


Zenith

by anjumstar



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: X & Y | Pokemon X & Y Versions
Genre: Anxiety, Death, F/M, Kalos, Panic Attacks, Suicide, Terrorism, Violence, giant rock, mega evolution special spoilers, onesided amourshipping, spoilers up to forming a more perfect union, xyz spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-08
Updated: 2020-07-08
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:08:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 129,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23545894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anjumstar/pseuds/anjumstar
Summary: When Lysandre interrupts the Kalos League to rewrite the world, everything changes. Only this time, Ash doesn’t escape the mind control, Malva has to come to terms with her role, and Professor Sycamore has to find out something that changes everything. And Misty, having seen it all on television, can’t help but fly in to join them. A Kalos finale redo.
Relationships: Alan | Alain/Manon | Mairin, Fleur-de-lis | Lysandre/Pachira | Malva, Kasumi | Misty/Satoshi | Ash Ketchum, Viola/Zakuro | Grant
Comments: 28
Kudos: 139





	1. Falling

**Author's Note:**

> Setting: A redo of the XYZ climax, the end of episode XY131 Down to the Fiery Finish! through XY136 Forming a More Perfect Union!  
> Rating: T for language and depictions of violence, terrorism, suicide, and death.  
> Ages: Serena and the rivals are 15. Mairin is 16. Ash and Misty are 17. Clemont is 18. Alain is 19. Bonnie is 7.

“ _Aaaaaaaah_!”

Olympia’s eyes went wide as she fell, her knees hitting the balcony with a sickening crack. Her hair came unfurled and her students knew exactly what was going on as soon as her body took on that tell-tale glow.

But it had never happened like this before.

“Lady Olympia?” Charlene called as the meditation group returned to the ground, as was respectful when Lady Olympia was having a vision.

“It’s happening.”

Her body still curled over like it couldn’t take the weight of her head, Olympia began to levitate into the air. But she wasn’t in control as she always was, not this time. Even her Meowstic were looking at her, concerned until they became embroiled in the vision as well, the glow capturing and freezing them while Olympia began to shake.

“ _It’s happening_!”

Abruptly, the nebular dome flashed a radioactive green, not unlike the one they’d seen Olympia prophesize about only a few months earlier. _The green eye_ , Charlene remembered. But the green gave a sputter, and then the whole dome was shrouded with a blood red. The red and the green flickered back and forth like a strobe until the green was finally snuffed out, and the red remained, blooming until the room was thick with it, like a macabre fog.

Then it fell to black.

When the stars and planets began to wink back into existence in the dome, Olympia’s body was face down on her balcony, her Meowstic prone on either side.

Charlene paled.

“Help her,” Charlene rasped, the sound barely leaving her mouth. Then she found her voice again, shouting: “ _Help her_!”

* * *

“And rounding out a competition that’s featured more Mega-Evolution than we’ve ever seen before here at the brand new Lumiose Stadium, Alain comes out the victor with his Mega Charizard. This match had a huge finish like no other, with Alain overcoming a Type-disadvantage against Ash Ketchum’s very special—and dare I say, unusual—Greninja. The stadium erupted in applause as Alain has seemingly mastered Mega-Evolution. Now let’s see some slow-motion replay of the match’s highlights.”

* * *

“Now that our final competitors have had a short canteen break, we bring out our semi-finalists and begin the award ceremony. The conference’s analysts have placed Reno in the position of fourth place and Sawyer in third, making our top three all newbies to the Kalos League. And here comes the Champion, Diantha.”

* * *

“And with the end of the awards ceremony, the Kalos League has officially ended. And what a League it was! Mega-Evolution was once a fringe aspect to the Kalos League but this year marked the first that a majority of competitors featured Mega-Evolution on their teams. Later today, I’m hosting a live AMA where you can have all of your Kalos League questions answered. But for now, this is Malva, signing— _bleep_ , what the _bleep_ is that‽”

Malva’s hand was on Houndoom’s PokéBall at the sound of the first explosion. Her head whipped around until she spotted the first of many thick, black vines breaking through the brand new stadium wall. That was enough to take her hand away. Now was not the time to battle.

It was time to run.

She gave one cursory look over her shoulder at her camera crew and shouted, “Come on, team; get out of here!”

They followed her simply because they didn’t know what was happening. But she did.

And fuck Lysandre for not warning her.

* * *

“Everyone, evacuate! Make way and allow for children and the elderly to exit first! Help them if you can! Watch your step and be vigilant! Evacuate as safely and quickly as you can!”

Diantha had been given a mic for the award ceremony and she was making the best use of it she could as she pointed out the exits currently free of vines. If everyone didn’t make it out before the vines inevitably collapsed the doorways, people would probably have to be carried over the stadium wall one at a time by Pokémon. And if too many people were left inside, Diantha wasn’t sure that they would have the resources to handle that fast enough. Because as it stood right now, the newly constructed stadium was turning to rubble. Many vines had already burst through and Diantha had no idea the integrity of the building and how long it would hold. Of course, it was made to withstand Pokémon Attacks, so they probably had some time yet, but still…

“Yes, that way. Move along. Careful now! Evacuate quickly but safely and watch your step!”

These words came without the familiar resonance of a sound system. The building’s wiring must have been snapped. She tossed the useless prop on the podium behind her and continued shouting.

People probably weren’t listening to her. If they could even hear her. Diantha could see Professor Sycamore on the other side of the stadium shouting with the same arm motions as her, but she certainly couldn’t hear a word he was saying. Everyone was in a panic, screaming, shouting, looking for loved ones. Pokémon were coming out and being put away left and right to pick people up, toss boulders, or maybe even just for comfort. Diantha herself had let Gardevoir out just to keep an extra set of eyes looking out for any more vines crashing through the walls.

The crowd didn’t seem to be getting any smaller. As soon as a hundred people exited from the floor, a hundred more had flooded in from the rush out of the stands. They went so high…the arena was designed to fit one-hundred-thousand people and had been filled to capacity. And that was a fraction of Lumiose’s actual population…

But that kind of thought wasn’t useful to Diantha. As Champion, she needed to act. She brought out her Holo Caster, ready to send a message to Lumiose’s radio tower. The phone number was somewhere deep in her contacts, but when she finally found it, the call didn’t connect. Diantha tried again, and a third time, then a fourth call to one of her assistants, but not a single sound came from the device. When Diantha looked back at the swarming horde of people, she noticed just how many of them also seemed to have their Holo Casters out and she realized that she wasn’t going to be able to make a call anytime soon.

It would be okay. She would just write down the message and give it to a police officer to bring to the radio tower. Although, she didn’t want to waste police power at the moment when it really couldn’t be spared…but then again, she couldn’t risk giving the message to a civilian either when they only needed to worry about getting to safety.

Or…

Diantha had a workaround. But she quickly realized that she hadn’t brought her belongings with her into the arena. Of course, fifteen minutes ago it had been so important that she not look like a saddle-Tauros. Now that all seemed ridiculously trivial.

No matter; that was hardly the biggest hurdle she’d have to overcome in all this.

She pulled out a second PokéBall. Diantha wasn’t going to bring her purse onstage, but she was the Champion, after all, and the Champion went nowhere without a full party of Pokémon. “Hawlucha, go!”

Her Hawlucha came out of its ‘Ball as Diantha kneeled down to meet its gaze. “You need to go and get my bag so I can write down a message. Then you bring it to the radio tower to be broadcast. Okay?”

“Cha! Haw loo cha!”

“Great!”

By the time Diantha stood, Hawlucha was already off, and she felt a twinge of relief relaxing her shoulders. That would be one thing done. After that, she and the police could focus on controlling the situation.

But as soon as she had that thought, it severed in her mind, causing her to recall Olympia’s prophesy all at once. It wasn’t just her that was bound to be involved in this.

And as soon as Diantha began to look around for that boy that had been standing so near her only minutes before, she realized that Ash—and his friends—were long gone.

* * *

“Everyone, evacuate!”

Ash and Alain were already heading for the closest vomitorium when they heard Diantha’s first cry for evacuation. They were some of the few people already on the floor, so it was just a quick sprint through the growing dust, Pikachu at Ash’s heels, and they would be in the bottom hallway of the stadium, where only the competing Trainers were allowed. That section contained holding rooms, locker rooms, and bathrooms, but most importantly, a number of emergency exits to the outside. The spectators would be going out the main entrances that surrounded the stands.

“The vines are coming from outside,” Alain said, his voice surprisingly even, “so it’s probably not safe out there either.”

“What choice do we have, Alain?” Ash asked, checking for the tenth time that Pikachu was still beside them. “This isn’t something we can fight from inside a stadium!”

“Fight?” If it weren’t so urgent that they kept running, Alain would have stopped to stare at Ash. “What are you talking about?”

“We’re gonna figure out what’s causing these vines, and we’re gonna take them down!”

The hallways were in far worse shape than the stadium itself. They were an obstacle course of vines that Alain and Ash had to alternatingly duck under and climb over in order to keep moving. Some of them were frozen in place, tough and easy to climb, while others felt alive, still growing and wiggling their way into the stadium.

“What can we do? Our Pokémon are completely wiped out.”

That thought was enough to pause Ash for just a moment, as though he had honestly forgotten that they’d just battled in the biggest match of their lives not even a half-hour before. Their bags were still in the holding room in the stadium—if there even was a holding room anymore. No healing items and no quick way to get any.

“We’ll figure it out when it comes to it.”

“What kind of a plan is tha—?”

“Right now I can only do the best I can with what I’ve got, and I know my Pokémon want the same,” Ash interrupted with a sternness that Alain hadn’t ever heard from Ash before. “So are you with me?”

Alain’s eyes grew dark for a moment at Ash’s unexpected speech. And he found himself saying: “No.”

“What?”

“Where’s Mairin?”

Ash slowed for a second as he climbed over a particularly thick vine. “She didn’t say. She just said she didn’t want to bother you until after the match.”

Alain closed his eyes tightly for a moment, as if to compose himself. “Of course. She’s always overthinking stuff like that.”

“She couldn’t have known something like this would happen.”

The faint glow of an exit sign led them to the nearest emergency exit. But when they got close, they noticed that there was a thick vine punched straight through where the door had once been. All that remained were ragged strips of metal hugging the vine, leaving deep, red scratches in it.

“Pika cha?”

Ash shook his head. “We keep looking. The next one will be fine, I’m sure of it.”

They took off running again, Pikachu panting heavily than he would have if he’d been at full health. But Ash knew that Pikachu’s break since the Battle had been enough to revive at least some of his little buddy’s energy.

“I need to look for Mairin.”

One glance back and Ash could see that Alain’s expression had taken on the same determination he’d worn throughout all his Battles of the Lumiose Conference. But now there was an extra touch of softness that seemed almost alien on his face.

“Okay, then we will!”

“What?” Alain looked at Ash, surprised to see him change his plan so quickly. “I thought you were gonna take down what was creating these vines?”

“We can’t do anything without our friends, Alain. That’s what I’ve learned on my journey.”

“You would say something like that.”

Ash grinned. “I would! So, at a time like this, I guess I can ask: is Mairin important to you?”

* * *

It hadn’t taken long for Bonnie to lose sight of Squishy. It had been weaving between people’s feet and around chairs and before Bonnie knew it, Squishy was gone.

“Squishy?” Bonnie called out repeatedly. “ _Squishy_?”

“Bonnie!” Clemont grabbed Bonnie’s wrist before she could run any farther and he began dragging her down the stairs.

“Let go of me! I need to find Squishy!”

“No,” Clemont argued, holding Bonnie even tighter as she began squirming out of his grasp. “We need to get out of here before the walls fall on us and we don’t have any chance of finding Squishy.”

“But I need to make sure that Squishy is safe!”

Bonnie was crying now, her face turning red with anger and exertion as she continued to try to break free from Clemont’s grip. Then Serena took her other hand and crouched down to Bonnie’s level.

“Your brother’s right, Bonnie. You can only make sure that Squishy is safe if you’re safe yourself. And Squishy is smart. It’s probably trying to get out of here but was able to find another way because it’s small. So let’s just get outside the stadium and regroup, okay?”

Bonnie sniffled a little, but nodded. She took that moment to rip her arm away from Clemont, but she kept her hand firmly in Serena’s. She knew Clemont would be hurt by that—she could imagine the wide-eyed expression, his hand still outstretched toward her—but she didn’t care. “Let’s go.”

* * *

“Cut them all down, Blaziken!”

Meyer had been at home with his radio when he’d heard Malva’s voice cut out suddenly and profanely. He and Clembot had run for the television to see what had interrupted the broadcast and quickly seen the vines for the first time. In only a couple of minutes, one news channel after the other had ended its footage, and the television had gone to static.

It’d only taken a minute more for Meyer to change and head outside with his Blaziken and Clembot. While Clembot had headed for the Gym, Meyer had taken in the vines that weren’t just on the TV—they were outside the house.

“Behind you, Blaziken! Sky Uppercut!”

The first time he had donned the mask and the persona of Blaziken Mask had been about three years prior, shortly after his wife had died. In failing to protect her, Meyer had tasked himself with doing his best to protect the city that his kids called home. Clemont had just graduated and was smart, but clumsy. He’d had a hard time making friends and was often too closed-in. Even as a four-year-old, Bonnie had been feisty, but she was young and trusting. Meyer didn’t doubt that one day Bonnie would be able to throw a punch that would knock any man out, but while his girl was still a baby, she needed his protection.

After trying and failing to fill both the mother and father roles that he so wanted his kids to have, he’d realized he would have to go about things in a different way. And when he’d discovered his Mega Stone and Key Stone, he’d found it.

He kept the city safe. Often a degree of this burden would fall on the city’s Gym Leader, but Clemont was still coming into his own, and didn’t need that extra worry. Meyer was afraid it would overwhelm his often overthinking son. So he stayed vigilant and did what he could to shelter his kids.

Today, he felt that all crumble away.

Lumiose was the most urban and metropolitan city in all of Kalos; Meyer had seen and intervened with a wide variety of crime and unrest in the past three years. But that experience had done nothing to prepare him for this. Who was he supposed to battle? Which vine should he have Blaziken use Sky Uppercut on?

Abruptly, his thoughts narrowed, and he felt a sense of calm.

“Clear a path, Blaziken!”

It wasn’t his job to protect the city. It was his job to protect his kids. If he had nothing else to show for the day, that’s what he would do.

All he had to do was find them.

* * *

The second emergency exit Ash and Alain found wasn’t yet destroyed or blocked off by vines. They pushed it open expecting to hear the alarm that accompanied emergency exits, but all they could hear were the fresh sounds of panic coming from the street.

“If the wiring’s been damaged, then an electrical fire could start at any time,” Alain said, looking back at the stadium they’d just escaped. “And who’s to say these vines aren’t flammable?”

“Why wouldn’t they be?” Ash asked, touching one of the vines that had torn through the stadium wall.

As he rubbed his fingertips against it, Ash could distinguish that it felt almost like the bark of an old tree. It was gnarled and uneven, but that red veining mottling each vine was not normal. Even Ash could see that.

“Ash!”

A coil in Ash’s stomach loosened at the sound of Serena’s voice, not to mention the sight of her, Clemont, and Bonnie all still together and unharmed. A small wave of relief coursed through him as he exclaimed, “I’m so happy you guys are okay!”

Just as the group reunited, Lumiose’s sound system began beeping, signaling that they were about to be used.

“This is a message from Champion Diantha. People of Lumiose, now is the time for evacuation. Leave your belongings and escape Lumiose until we can get the threat under control. The roads are unsafe, so do not drive your vehicles. The damage seems to be centered around Prism Tower, so avoid that area when evacuating.”

The message sent a fresh ripple of fear through the crowd of League spectators. Those who weren’t already running upped their pace, while those who could turned to Pokémon for help. People took to the skies with their Talonflame and bowled through the crowds on the backs of their Gogoat.

Clemont, on the other hand, froze.

“Prism Tower?”

The group turned to the heart of the city where the thick vines had curled up like a tendril of ivy. And at the top was an alien red glow against the bright afternoon light.

“That’s…”

Everyone heard Alain, and saw the unmistakable expression of recognition on his face. But he trailed off and seemed to freeze.

“Alain?” Ash prodded.

“Alain, do you know what that is?” Clemont urged.

“It’s Zygarde,” Alain said finally, swallowing thickly before continuing. “It’s Zygarde and Lysandre is doing this.”

“What?” Serena cried. “Why would he do that?”

“I don’t know. But I…Lysandre captured Zygarde months ago. And no Pokémon would do this without someone forcing it to. Ash.” Alain turned to Ash. “It’s important now more than ever that we find Mairin.”

“Mairin?” Serena asked. Then she remembered the talk she’d had with Mairin just the day before about Chespie being at Lysandre Labs. “Oh no!”

“Then let’s go!” Ash declared.

“I’m gonna go to Prism Tower,” Clemont said before Ash could run off. “I’ve got to protect my Gym. My Pokémon are there, and I can’t leave them. Bonnie, you…Bonnie?”

Bonnie had been very quiet for the past few minutes and was looking up past their faces. When everyone else followed her gaze, they saw a last few bright green streaks arching through the sky.

“That’s Squishy,” Bonnie said, oblivious to all that had been decided. “It must be going to Prism Tower; I know it!”

“Bonnie, you shouldn’t—”

“I don’t care! If you don’t let me go, then I’m going to hate you forever, Clemont!”

That kind of outburst was nothing out of the norm for Bonnie and not something that the older three would usually believe. But, really, where was there safer for her to go? The whole city was being torn apart by the vines, and without a chaperone, Bonnie would be at more risk than she would in the center of town.

Clemont took one reassuring breath, steeling himself against regret. “Fine.”

“Then let’s go!”

Like a shot, Bonnie began to run off. Clemont immediately followed, calling out for Bonnie as he did so. Alain tossed Ash a look and took off the other way, hedging his bets on Mairin’s location. That left Serena looking back at Ash with an expression of uncertainty.

“You should go with them,” Ash immediately decided.

“Oh, okay,” Serena said, a little surprised by Ash’s certainty. “Um, if anything bad happens—”

Ash tossed her one last smile and confidently declared, “Nothing bad will happen.”

* * *

Malva had thrown her match against Alain for two reasons. One, he seemed as though he could be valuable to the team. He was strong—strong and just blind enough to believably beat her if she and Houndoom played their parts just right. He had the passion and the drive to get things done, not to mention the type one personality to get them done well and efficiently. And Lysandre needed that in a battler. He had plenty of scientists with the same vision that he carried. However, he needed someone strong but innocent to do the groundwork.

Malva was strong, but she wasn’t innocent.

Reason two was that it was important Lysandre not know quite how strong she was. She had to be somewhat strong to be of any value to him at all—and her reputation as an Elite was enough to tell him that without her having to lift a finger. But he could never know that she was strong enough to overtake him. That’s why she’d only ever showed him one Pokémon; her Mega was all he was interested in anyhow.

She fingered a PokéBall containing one Pokémon of many he didn’t know that she had—and had trained meticulously. Malva knew she wasn’t known as the heavyweight of the Kalos Elite Four; she had coasted on her past effort in recent years and focused on her stardom, which she didn’t regret in the least. That helped in her guise for Lysandre anyway. But it was just like riding a bike.

Or in this case, a Pyroar.

She released Pyroar and hopped on her back, something she hadn’t done in ages since now she had mopeds, limos, and town cars all just buttons away, and they loped away from where she’d just been broadcasting. Without the responsibility of following her, now her three bumbling techies could find shelter.

They didn’t seem as though they were strong or clever enough to protect themselves—if they thought disguising a Meowth as a human was going to fool anyone, they had another thing coming. Although Malva had to admit she was curious as to what was underneath playing the legs.

But not presently. Presently, she was off to Prism Tower.

* * *

When the first chunk of concrete fell, it all came back to her.

Mairin remembered hiding as that ancient temple crumbled around her. She remembered the meteors falling, and the fact that Alain was the only reason she was alive. She remembered hugging Chespie for dear life…Chespie, who wasn’t anywhere around. Chespie, who was lying in a lab, with no clue that this was even going on.

Her hands began to tremble. Before she knew it, her thighs were shaking too and her knees were unable to hold her. A sob escaped her mouth as she began crawling, not entirely knowing which direction she was going in, but knowing that she had to get out.

But her strength didn’t hold. Her resolve crumbled and she curled in on herself, barely able to breathe as she remembered Rayquaza’s attack. Then the fight between Kyogre and Groudon. What was next? What was happening?

Mairin didn’t know how long she’d been frozen for when she heard a voice, a comforting voice shouting above the noises of panic, over all the destruction.

“Alain?” Mairin asked, too quiet for him possibly to hear.

“Mairin?”

That second one was a scratchier voice that had to be Ash. They were looking for her!

“Mairin?”

“Alain‽” Mairin sobbed out, projecting as loudly as she could so that it was almost a scream.

Mairin pushed herself to her feet, grabbing on to a wall for support, as her legs still felt wobbly, and the bones in her face were buzzing from the crying. She hurriedly wiped her eyes as she scanned through the now-emptying streets for him. And there he was, Ash and his Pikachu close behind on the street just below her. She hadn’t realized how far she’d crawled—and she had no idea where the box she’d been in was in relation to this balcony.

“Mairin!” Mairin felt her heart clench and unclench at the warm sound of relief in his voice at seeing her. “Are you okay?”

“I’m okay!”

But, she wasn’t, was she? Her head felt messed up, she was afraid of what would happen if she moved, and _Chespie_. She choked back a sob, because she really wanted Alain to think she was okay.

“I’ll send Charizard for you!”

As soon as Mairin saw the light of Charizard’s PokéBall, a giant vine ripped right through the ground in front of Alain, separating them again. The smithereens of concrete spat up at her and Mairin fell back to the ground, shielding her face from the debris.

Through the ringing in her ears, Mairin heard a faint, “Dragon Claw!” but she stayed down. In the small corner of her mind that was present, witnessing the events as they happened and not morphing them into painful memories, Mairin expected to hear Alain’s voice say something else. Give another command or try another tactic. But he had gone quiet.

And she began to wail.

* * *

Serena could already tell it was no use. Every time one of their Pokémon slashed through a vine, at least one more would burst up somewhere around them. And they kept coming to dead ends where there was no way to go around them.

Something had come over Clemont, though. There was no give in him today; Serena had never seen him go at something with such physical endurance. But even if Clemont had that extra energy today, there was still only so much his Pokémon could do for him.

To add to Serena’s growing apprehension, the vines seemed to be narrowing in on them. As Braixen burned through one vine, Serena felt the asphalt rumble a little too close to her feet. Before she could call on Braixen, or release another Pokémon, the vine was already curling over her head, and about to smash her body into the road.

Serena froze. She thought about covering her face, falling to the ground, tossing her body to the left or right, but all these thoughts cancelled out and left her looking up, straight into the face of her own death. In doing so, she saw something fly out of the sky at the last minute and kick the vine away, severing it in midair.

It hadn’t been one of her or Clemont’s Pokémon, that much she knew. And certainly little Dedenne hadn’t just exponentially increased in size in order to pull off that maneuver. But when she looked around for her savior, she was not at all surprised to see a Mega Blaziken.

“Blaziken Mask!” Bonnie cried out.

It was clear enough that Bonnie was excited to see Blaziken Mask, but Serena knew herself and Clemont simply felt relief. If anyone could help them out of this Gordian knot of vines, it would be the city’s own superhero.

“What are you kids doing here?” Blaziken Mask asked them. “Didn’t you hear the evacuation notice?”

It was true that as they had grown closer to the center of the city; they had run into fewer and fewer people, all of whom were running desperately in the other direction. They were close enough to Prism Tower now that vines had replaced all the people and Pokémon that had once bustled through the city center. It was a miracle Blaziken Mask had gone this far in to save them at all.

“I’m the Leader of the Lumiose Gym,” Clemont declared, as if a native resident of Lumiose wouldn’t already know it. “I have friends in there that I have to save.”

“And my friend Squishy ran off there!”

“It’s not safe. Uninjured civilians should be doing all they can to get themselves out of danger. The longer you’re here, the longer the emergency response teams have to put themselves in danger to find you!”

“But who knows what will happen if we leave them alone? This could be critical to saving the city!”

Serena found herself not having the ardent motivations of her friends. Yes, she wanted to _help_ Clemont save the Gym and she wanted to _help_ Bonnie find Squishy…but she found herself unable to explain why she was thrusting herself into such danger. All she felt was something inside of her that didn’t let her even consider doing anything else.

And in a flash, she realized that what she was feeling was Ash. She was doing what Ash would do. And that made her proud enough of herself to stand up.

“We’re doing the right thing,” Serena finally stated. “There’s a Legendary Pokémon being controlled at the top of Prism Tower and we’re going to see what we can do about it. The city is just going to turn to rubble otherwise! So you can either join us or pretend you never saw us.”

Serena knew that Clemont and Bonnie were surprised to hear such strong words out of her. But Serena just crossed her arms over her chest to show that she wasn’t going to take back what she said, and kept her eyes locked on Blaziken Mask.

It surprised them all when he took the mask off.

“Dad?”

* * *

Even though Alain had already deduced that Lysandre was behind Lumiose’s takeover, Celosia showing up had enlightened Alain. He’d put one and two together, but had failed to get to two and three.

He was a criminal as well. He was implicated in the scheme as much as Celosia was showing herself to be, now as Ash was being hooked up to spheres. Spheres that Alain didn’t have the faintest idea about. All at once, Alain remembered working with Lysandre, side by side, and all the bullshit he should have seen through.

Alain had been blinded by the shimmering Key Stone and Mega Stone. They were exactly what he’d been searching for, and here they were in a plush case, being offered to him. It was a dream come true.

_"You see, Pokémon emit a powerful energy when they Mega-Evolve. This energy is boundless. So I've been researching if we can harness that energy for peaceful means."_

_"If so, then you should ask Professor Sycamore for help."_

_"That's not possible. If word gets out, certain people will try to use if for evil. Looking back at human history, that's a given. The professor must not come to harm. He will be protected at all costs. That is my solemn vow."_

Alain had believed all that and vomited it back to Professor Sycamore just the day before. Professor Sycamore, who had believed in him so much...and who would be so disappointed when he learned what Alain had been stupid enough to be part of.

_"Thanks to the Giant Rock, we were able to collect more Mega-Evolution energy than we expected. Now my plans for peace can move forward to the next stage. It's all thanks to you, Alain."_

Who was he to help Mairin? What was he supposed to do for Ash, who had just looked at him with such shattering betrayal? What would Ash or Mairin think of him now? He was the reason Chespie was in a coma. He was the reason Ash was being taken away by Celosia. Innocent people and Lumiose had probably already died from the destruction of the vines.

It was all thanks to him.

* * *

Diantha still couldn’t get any messages out. The stadium was well-evacuated, and Hawlucha had managed to deliver her message and return to his PokéBall with nothing more than a little dust from building rubble damaging him. Evidently the radio tower had not yet been destroyed, though she hoped it too was in the process of being evacuated.

That meant that she no longer had any lines of communication farther than she could shout. And as soon as she had put that haphazardly scrawled message in Hawlucha’s beak, she’d been thinking of other things she needed to get out. She knew that some brave volunteers would opt to stay in the city at their own risk, and if she could have offered a little direction on what was to be prioritized, maybe a few lives could be saved.

All she could hope for was that people’s judgment was good and dangerous mistakes wouldn’t be made in the midst of this crisis.

As her worries began to overwhelm her, clouding her analysis of the situation, Diantha spotted—of all things—a news crew with a helicopter. And they seemed to be actually reporting _live_.

“Excuse me!” she shouted before the decision was even made in her mind. “Can I borrow you for a minute?”

The talent turned to her in what Diantha knew was the murderous rage of being interrupted while on screen. She then also recognized the expression of someone’s jaw going slack at the face of the Champion. Or a movie star, depending on which kind of fan it was. Diantha squared her jaw and narrowed her eyes, speaking low with authority: “I need to make a statement to my region and those around the world. Think you want the scoop?”

The talent as well as the audiovisual guys all nodded quickly and Diantha stepped in front of the screen with practiced ease. She hadn’t yet worked out quite what she was going to say, but she hadn’t taken all those improv classes for nothing.

She didn’t take a cooling breath or clear her throat. She looked straight at the camera—as she’d been taught time and time again not to do as an actress—and began her second speech of the day. This was the one that mattered.

“Citizens of Kalos and beyond: Lumiose City has been consumed by growing vines, seemingly controlled by someone or something centered at Prism Tower. An evacuation notice has already been given, but if you are in Lumiose watching this broadcast, consider it your second warning. If you are taking the risk and choosing to stay and help, please focus your efforts on clearing vines to provide exits for those without Pokémon to carry them out of the city. Phone lines are down in Lumiose. If anyone has pertinent information to the ongoing situation, please send a Pokémon to deliver it to the local police department. To my region’s Gym Leaders and Elite, please be vigilant. We do not yet know if the threat is spreading, and we may need your assistance. Likewise, to the leaders of other regions, if you are watching this broadcast, we do not yet know if further aid will be necessary, but—”

“Diantha!”

“—I hope to be able to communicate further as more information—”

“Diantha!”

Diantha had the presence of mind and the grace to step off camera before showing any anger. The signs of it in her face—tight lips, heavy breathing—could probably only be seen by the closest of friends, but she still knew better than to show anything less than evenness to the world. “What?” she asked, careful to keep her tone neutral.

“The broadcast cut off,” the techie with the strange voice said from the helicopter. “Look!”

Diantha poked her head inside and saw that the monitor didn’t show the view that was in front of her, but rather a strange, animated symbol. Then the screen shifted to a man’s face.

“Is that…isn’t that Lysandre?”

* * *

“Dad, what’s going on?”

Clemont had about a hundred thoughts shoot through his mind all at once at the realization that his dad had been masquerading as Blaziken Mask for years, but only one of them stuck: how stupid was he?

For a kid long lauded as a prodigy, he sure had to be an idiot not to know that the superhero who had been protecting the city—who he had seen before, even just been speaking to—was his dad.

He was an absolute nincompoop.

“I’m sorry to have to tell you kids like this,” Meyer started, holding his mask awkwardly in his hands, “but as your father, and not some stranger trying to save the day, I have to tell you how important it is to me that you’re safe.”

But before Meyer could say anything else to convince them, Lysandre’s voice came over the city’s somehow still-intact sound system.

“To my beloved Kalos region and the entire world, I am Lysandre, once of Lysandre labs, but now of the organization called Team Flare. I have an announcement. We are here to remake the world into a place of pure beauty and peace. Team Flare’s purpose is to transform our world into an exquisite example of creation.”

The screen panned over to where Zygarde still sat atop Prism Tower.

“This Pokémon’s name is Zygarde. A Legendary Pokémon who is angry at the behavior of both people and Pokémon. The discipline of this world has been lost. Humanity is out of control. We have forgotten how to share. Without sharing, people begin to steal from each other. When that happens, there is not enough for anyone. In order to live in peace without stealing, we must reduce the number of beings on this planet. Only the chosen ones will move on into our bright, hopeful future. We of Team Flare, along with the fury of Zygarde, will be the ones to make that judgment. The new order will do away with the chaos of the world and bring about the beautiful future we desire.”

When the speech was over, everyone was silent for a minute, trying to take in the implications of what they’d just heard. Whatever was happening to Lumiose wasn’t meant just for Lumiose; it was supposed to take over the entire world. This wasn’t about destruction or making a statement.

It was about slowly killing them all.

Before that realization could fully sink in, Clemont turned to his father with fresh and grim determination and said: “Looks like we’re all in danger anyway, dad.”

* * *

Mairin didn’t know how long she’d cried for, nor how long she’d waited after her tears had dried up. But there was never another sign of Alain. All Mairin could think was that she was grateful there hadn’t been any more destruction around her for a little while. No rumbling, even the sound of the panicked masses had died down—it was just her and her thoughts.

“Mairin, we’ve been looking for you!”

When she heard the sound of another voice, she blinked, her mind clearing for a moment. “What?”

She looked up and saw one of the workers at Lysandre Labs. She could only tell because of the familiar, rather garish garb they all wore. She didn’t know how to tell most of them apart, and therefore didn’t know their names, but apparently this guy knew her.

“Lysandre was worried about you, and he sent some of us to look for you. And anyone else who might need help.”

“Oh, that’s so nice.” It really was, so she meant to say it like she was excited, but her voice was flat, and scratchier than usual. She was lucky that it hadn’t come out as a raspy whisper.

“So if you’ll just come with me, I’ll bring you to safety.”

The guy was reaching his hand out to pick her up from her spot on the ground. Grateful and a little embarrassed, Mairin took the proffered hand and pushed herself up. She leaned on the man’s strength more than she would have liked, but the truth was that her legs still felt like jelly and she needed all the help she could get.

At that moment, Mairin heard another voice, this one familiar. But it wasn’t talking to her.

It was Lysandre, and she was hearing him in surround sound. His voice was coming from speakers inside the stadium, televisions inside nearby houses, the Lumiose sound system where Mairin could vaguely remember hearing an announcement earlier.

“Come on; let’s go.”

The guy pulled on her hand, and Mairin pulled back. “Hold on; I want to listen.”

“We’re going to him—he’ll be happy to tell you himself.”

Mairin looked at the man in confusion. “Why won’t you just let me listen to Lysandre?”

It had only been a question, but for some reason, it was enough to get the guy to loosen his grip, though not without his expression turning frosty and frustrated.

And as Mairin listened, her heart nearly stopped.

It quickly became clear that Lysandre had taken over all the audio-visual systems in Lumiose, if not the whole world. He was speaking in flowery prevarications, out of which Mairin gleaned two vital facts. One, this, all of this, was Lysandre’s doing. Two, Chespie was not being treated.

Lysandre hadn’t said anything to inform Mairin of the second fact, but she knew it in her heart nevertheless. Whatever Lysandre had spent the last many months doing, none of it had been for Chespie. It had been for this. And unless, by some miracle, curing Chespie had something to do with this, then Chespie was still asleep. Now with very little hope of waking up.

Mairin felt her chest constrict and it was difficult to breathe. She found herself taking thick, wheezing gasps as the information sunk in.

“Let’s go, Mairin. Lysandre will be more than happy to explain, I’m sure.”

For a second, Mairin almost let herself get carried away by this guy. She wasn’t thinking, her mind was overwhelmed and echoing with the words she’d just heard. But then she realized the implications of what was going on. This Lysandre Labs fellow wasn’t alarmed, like she was. Clearly he knew what he’d signed up for, unlike her. He wanted this too. He wanted the world to die too.

“No!” Mairin tried to yank her hand back, but the guy had been expecting that. His grip was tight, and he was a lot bigger than her.

Mairin still felt weak from her panic attack earlier, but adrenaline was pumping through her body as her worldview narrowed to one simple fact: get away.

She kicked out her leg and managed to connect with the guy’s thigh, but it wasn’t enough to send him down; it was only enough to make him angry. He instantly began fighting back, grabbing Mairin’s other arm and trying to reach them both behind her back. Before he did, she turned her head to the side and bit his arm, which surprised him enough to lose grip on that one wrist. She tried to push him away, but again, he overpowered her. She caught sight of him taking his hand away, which was a relief, but only for a second. He wasn’t taking his hand away: it was a backswing. And as he brought his hand down to slap her in the face, she turned away, hoping that he would catch the back of her head, maybe on her hat, where it would hurt less, but the blow never came.

Hesitantly, Mairin opened one eye and saw a very angry Professor Sycamore standing behind the Lysandre Lab’s guy, and holding his arm twisted behind his back.

“Let. Go. Of. The. Girl,” Professor Sycamore growled. When the man hesitated, the professor added, “Or my Garchomp eats you. It looks like we have quite the day ahead of us, so he’ll be needing the protein.”

Under the weight of the threat of the Garchomp over Professor Sycamore’s shoulder, the man released Mairin’s hand, which Mairin took back and rubbed soothingly. His grip had grown so tight that the bones in her knuckles had started to grind against each other.

“Now what do you say my friend, Mairin, and I walk you to the police station?”

With Garchomp growling and licking its sharp teeth, the man didn’t have any choice but to surrender. He looked down at the ground, silently admitting his own defeat.

Professor Sycamore began walking backn the direction he’d come only to look back and see that Mairin hadn’t moved. “Mairin?”

As the adrenaline was draining out of her system, Mairin’s mind became loud again with all that she now knew. A man she had put so much trust in was trying to destroy the world. What was she supposed to do with that?

Mairin saw Professor Sycamore’s shoes enter her field of vision, and then his knees as he kneeled down to talk to her. She glanced up to see that the Lysandre Labs guy was now being all but hugged by Garchomp.

“Are you okay?”

Alain had asked her that question before and she had lied. She didn’t want to lie to Professor Sycamore too, so she just shook her head.

“I’m sorry Lysandre lied,” Professor Sycamore said, looking at Mairin with righteous compassion. “I know you must be feeling a lot of things.”

Mairin held back all the impulses telling her to cry again. Chespie would not want her to sit around and lose herself—not when so much else was going on. Professor Sycamore was sorry for _her_ that Lysandre had lied? What about everyone else in Lumiose? And what about Alain?

“Alain!” Mairin gasped. Instantly, Mairin knew exactly what Alain would be thinking. All the blame that he was surely already burying himself in. Mairin had seen what it had done to Alain just to know what had happened to Chespie; if he let himself, today would be the day Alain would destroy himself with guilt.

“What? Is something wrong?”

“We have to find Alain! Where do you think he is?”

Professor Sycamore shook his head. “I don’t know. I haven’t seen him since the vines broke through the stadium.”

Mairin kept thinking. “What about Ash? They were together!”

That gave Professor Sycamore pause; obviously it was a little more to work with. “Well, if I know Ash…he has to be headed for Prism Tower.”

* * *

When Ash woke up, the first thing he saw was the red hue of the sky. Hadn’t it just been bright blue? And then he noticed his arms felt tight, mostly in the shoulders, but really, everything was uncomfortable. Had he slept the wrong way? His mind was still fuzzy with sleep.

No, not sleep. He’d been hit with a Confuse Ray point blank. It was probably just now leaving his mind.

Wait! That meant he’d been attacked. So…

Ash looked down and saw that he was stories and stories above the ground. Stories above even the next nearest building. He was being hung by his hands and legs at Prism Tower. It gave Ash a bone-chilling view of the destruction Lumiose had faced thus far, and all that was still coming as vines continued to tear the city apart. His instinct was to try to break free of the bonds, even if it was a long drop down, but a few jerks and tugs revealed that there was not a millimeter of give. He couldn’t even wiggle his fingers.

A whimper sounded next to him, and Ash turned to see that Pikachu was there too, along with all his other Pokémon. He quickly realized that the familiar weight of his PokéBelt was no longer slung across his waist; it had been taken from him. Ash remembered Pikachu being hit by the strong Confuse Ray as well, but he had no idea how his other Pokémon had ended up in such a state.

“Oh good, you’re awake.”

With a start, Ash realized that the voice was coming from below him. And there he saw Lysandre standing with Alain, and looking pretty pleased with himself. Ash then remembered Alain’s immediate assessment that all this destruction was the work of Lysandre, and Ash felt very, very unsafe. He looked to the side and saw that Pokémon Alain had mentioned, Zygarde, standing so close to him, and glowing with an unnatural red aura.

“What are you doing‽” Ash shouted. “Why are me and my Pokémon up here?”

“Oh, that?” Lysandre didn’t bother shouting. It was as though he knew just how loudly he needed to speak for Ash to hear him, and wouldn’t bother with so much as an extra decimal. “That’s just in case this doesn’t go well. You’re lucky, Ash. You and your Pokémon may be a few of the lucky ones.”

“What? What doesn’t go well?” Ash turned his attention to Alain. “Alain, what is he talking about? No, you know, whatever he said, don’t listen to him! You can fix this! Alain!”

But Alain didn’t move. He wasn’t even looking at Ash.

“Yes, Alain’s been very helpful,” Lysandre offered. “Without him, I may not have found you or your Greninja.”

“What’s this gotta do with Greninja?”

“I think you know very well what it’s got to do with it.”

Ash’s eyes went wide. “Is this what you meant when you said you wanted to talk after the League? The new world you were talking about?”

Lysandre laughed. “You’ve got it. You and your Greninja will lead the way in our new world, letting us study your Bond Phenomenon so we can use that to inform how Pokémon and humans interact. So, what do you say?”

“We won’t do any of that!” Ash raged. “I love this world and I would gladly die trying to save it!”

That statement didn’t seem to surprise Lysandre. All he did was purse his lips and give a little hum. Then he said: “Well, if you won’t be a leader, we’ll gladly take you as test subjects.”

Before he’d even finished his sentence, a pair of insectile machines fluttered up to either side of his head. They glinted rose gold in the sky’s strange light as they flew around each other, mesmerizingly up to Ash. For a second, he saw a bright red beam shooting out of them.

And then he screamed.

His head ached and, for a moment, Ash was sure that Lysandre was trying to kill him. But over the sounds of his own pain, he heard Greninja crying out beneath him. He wasn’t about to die; he was going to be controlled like Zygarde. Both he and Greninja were.

“ _Lysandre_!” Ash cried out. “You will not control us! You will never win!”

By that point, Ash’s Pokémon were all chattering in fear for their friends. Ash could feel their support and concern bolstering him, but at the same time, the pain was so great. His skin felt like it was being ripped off, and his brain was being crushed by his skull. The sounds of his friends were being dulled by a sharp ringing in his ears. The last thing he heard was:

“This power is enough to control the likes of a Legendary Pokémon,” Lysandre said calmly. “And can’t you see? We’re already winning.”

And then he heard nothing.

* * *

“Hey, I was watching that!”

Misty was standing up, shrugging on the pink jacket that she’d tossed over the back of the sofa hours before when they’d started watching the broadcast of the Kalos League. She tossed the remote back to Daisy. “Fine. Turn it back on if you want.”

It was late at night by that point in Kanto. What had been an early afternoon match in Kalos had begun at 8pm for the Cerulean Gym. Of course, the broadcast had been continuing for a few hours by that point. They’d kept the channel on nonstop and had only just finished watching Lysandre’s message when Misty had turned off the TV.

“Are you turning in, Misty?” Tracey asked, looking over his shoulder as Daisy turned the report back on to the news report of the disaster in Kalos.

Misty shook her head in response before picking up her Pokégear and dialing a number. Though the program was now back on with the magenta-haired newscaster analyzing the message given by Lysandre, Daisy and Tracey were both craning their necks back, focused on what Misty was doing.

“Hi, Professor,” Misty said as she grabbed some sneakers and began to shove her feet into them one-handedly. “Yes, I have. I was wondering if you could send Ash’s Charizard to the Cerulean Gym? Yes, I am. I do. I will. Thanks, Professor.”

Misty ended the phone call and then tossed her head over to grab her hair to pull into her classic side-pony. She ran across the room to grab her backpack and began shoving granola bars in it.

“Misty, like, what are you doing?”

She blinked at Daisy as if she needed a moment to pop out of the slightly manic episode she was having. Then her eyes narrowed into a patronizing expression that Daisy was quite familiar with receiving from Misty.

Tracey, always a bit more perceptive than everyone else, began, “Daisy, I, uh, think she’s going to…”

Daisy looked at Tracey with shock. “ _No_. Misty, you’re not…”

Meanwhile, Misty zipped her jacket and slung her backpack over one shoulder. As soon as she grabbed Charizard’s ‘Ball from the transporter, she would have everything she needed.

“Yes, Daisy. I’m going to Kalos.”


	2. Finding

_"Zygarde, the time has come. Show me your_ _power—do it now!"_

_"Are you certain that now is the time? During the Kalos League?"_

_Xerosic was smiling, already knowing what Lysandre's answer would be. This was what they had been waiting so many years for, after all. It was only in this past year that they'd really been able to advance their plans—and they were all giddy for it. So it was only right to double check one last time before fulfilling their destinies._

_"Yes," Lysandre said, his voice low, but happy. "At no other time would there be such a concentrated populace in Kalos. This is a golden opportunity."_

_"To expunge as many people as possible. All at once."_

At the present, it was difficult for Xerosic not to play Lysandre's part, and simply revel in his work. He'd created this. With the help of Lysandre and the girls, of course, but this machine would be his legacy.

That was, if legacies were relevant past the present moment, which, of course, they weren't. All of those egotistic human ambitions were to be wiped along with the humans themselves. In the new world, those words would cease to exist under the guidance of Lysandre and himself.

But there would be time for celebration later. Because now, the Greninja and his Trainer's vitals had just jumped onto the screen next to Z2's.

"Now's the time, kiddies!"

The room had a couple of Team Flare's best scientists with many more back at the lab, ready to obey Xerosic's every command. It was a joy.

"We have the opportunity to explore the quote 'Bond Phenomenon' that this boy has uncovered. Aside from monitoring Z2's status, this is the top priority. Remember: this could usher in a new way of living for people and Pokémon in the new world."

"The new world!" the Team Flare scientists echoed.

Xerosic sighed contentedly. He could feel himself getting giddy again, but suppressed it in order to look at the data. Lysandre had used a lot of the energy that Alain had gathered to control the Greninja and his Trainer. More than Xerosic had estimated, based on the amount Z2 had needed. But there was still plenty leftover for when Z1 came into the picture. Which would be very, very soon, since Z1 had showed up on his radar not ten minutes before. Now it was just a matter of letting things play out.

But if all else failed…they still had the Giant Rock.

And the boon that was that Chespin.

* * *

Frankly, Misty didn't know how Ash did it.

It had been a relief when Charizard had agreed to let her ride on him, even though she'd never done it before. And she'd thought that convincing him would be the hard part—but it wasn't. Up in the dark, evening skies of Kanto, the air was cold. Misty's face had felt like it was being stabbed by a hundred different needles for a good twenty minutes before it had ultimately gone numb. And her knuckles felt like they were going to crack open and start bleeding long before the trip was over.

Misty had naïvely hoped that her experience riding her Gyarados would have carried over at all, but it was hardly worth comparing. Her thighs were tense as she used them to grip onto Charizard's back, which she knew from riding Gyarados that she wasn't supposed to do, but the truth was that in riding Gyarados the worst that could happen was falling into the water.

The worst that could happen right now was falling to her death over the west end of Johto—Misty was only fairly certain that the landmass beneath her was still Johto.

That was another hitch in her plan. Misty had never been to Kalos before. She knew what it looked like vaguely on a map, but how was she supposed to find Lumiose City? Charizard had never been there either, to her knowledge.

Charizard grunted, obviously sensing her rising discomfort. Misty's instinct was to pet his neck, or something, but she wasn't sure that she would ever be able to move her hands out of their death-grip there. So instead, she leaned forward so that her mouth was as close to Charizard's ear as it could get without altering her actual riding position. And she whispered:

"It's you and me, old friend. And we're gonna help Ash."

* * *

Zygarde had been green last time Alain had seen it. It had been fighting with incredible strength, even after Aliana and Mable had weakened it. And briefly, they had turned it red. Whatever had been in those red beams was enough for the Pokémon to fall apart into its smallest pieces. So what was happening to it now? It was red and glowing on the top of Prism Tower, but sedate; it was destroying the city under Lysandre's control, without even attempting to escape.

Just like Ash.

If only Alain had known. When he'd been sent by Lysandre to battle that Pokémon, it had been under the guise that it was causing problems in the area. It needed to be controlled before being returned to the wild. Lysandre had introduced the idea as though it was just another challenging Battle from which Alain could glean experience.

And he'd fucking jumped at the chance.

The chance to battle a Legendary Pokémon with Charizard? Not to mention that it would help Lysandre, thereby helping Chespie and Mairin. He'd fallen for it—hook, line, and sinker. Lysandre had orchestrated it perfectly, knowing that Alain wouldn't stop and think that there was any problem with Zygarde having been in obvious pain when it was shot with those ray guns. Or that there was anything suspicious in the way things were being conducted.

He'd been blind to it all.

But what was his excuse now?

He knew Lysandre was exploiting Zygarde's power, that he wanted to eliminate mankind save for the people currently in Prism Tower. Yet he watched as Ash screamed, as the screaming ended, and the spheres holding Ash and his Greninja shattered under the pressure of Lysandre's rays. The two of them fell to Alain and Lysandre's level on the tower to the sound of Ash's Pokémon crying out. Alain wasn't sure if it was a protest, or if they were afraid of the unnatural red that now was irradiating their bodies. But they couldn't see that the glow wasn't the most disconcerting thing.

It was the eyes. There was nothing there. No Ash there—or Greninja, for that matter.

But he was still doing nothing. Ash had pleaded for Alain to…to what? To pull something out of a movie and push Lysandre off the building when he least expected it? Battle Zygarde by himself to keep it from destroying the world?

What did Ash expect him to do?

"Ash?" Alain asked desperately, hoping for something. A flicker of recognition. A little life in his eyes. Anything.

But there was no reaction from Ash. And from Lysandre, there was a true belly-laugh.

Alain was disgusted. In the year that Alain had known Lysandre— _thought_ he'd known him—he'd heard nothing more than a chuckle out of him. Now Alain knew that had just been part of playing the role he'd created for himself. This here was the true Lysandre. And he was fucking ecstatic.

"Your little friend is gone, Alain," Lysandre said, enjoying the whole experience far too much. "Or were you even friends? Did he just intrigue you the way he did me?"

Gone? Something about the word felt eerily permanent; it was used too often as a euphemism for death. But Ash didn't look like some reanimated corpse, nor did Zygarde or Greninja. Was there any way to reverse what Lysandre had done?

"What have you done to him? Is it mind control?"

Lysandre laughed again. "Well, we can't exactly get him to sing and dance like a puppet."

"What have you done?" Alain asked again, his voice lower, barely concealing his anger. At least, he hoped it was just anger that came across and not what he was really feeling: fear.

"Alain, it's not what I've done to him; it's what you've done."

He wished it was just a mind trick. Lysandre was trying to make him feel bad for something he hadn't done. But as his stomach went cold, he knew what Lysandre meant.

"The Mega-Evolution energy?"

Up until that moment, Alain had figured that the energy he'd collected was being used as some kind of battery within the coils of Lysandre's scheme. But all at once, he realized that the energy hadn't powered the scientist's machines or even those insect beams that had turned Ash red. It _was_ the weapon. Alain had spent the last year harvesting a weapon. And that was what would destroy the world. It would have been impossible without him.

Alain felt like he was going to be sick. As soon as he'd seen Zygarde, he knew that he had played a part. He'd helped them capture it after all. But he hadn't known that he was indeed instrumental to the whole organization. And then there was his participation in the Kalos League, during which there had been so many Mega-Evolution matches. Alain couldn't imagine the amount of energy that had been collected in just the past few days, allowing this moment to occur when it could cause maximum harm to the city. To mankind.

"That's right, Alain. That energy makes Ash here angry. It makes him want to fight. Now, I can see on your face that maybe you don't like that. So I'm going to ask you the same thing I asked Ash. Do you want to be part of the new world?" Lysandre's face turned dark. "Or do you want to see what your efforts have created?"

* * *

After Lysandre's speech, there was nothing stopping Bonnie, Clemont, and Serena from heading to Prism Tower. Their dad couldn't have done anything to keep them, but Bonnie also noticed that he didn't seem to want to quite as much.

When they finally made it past the vines and the rubble to the tower, they weren't surprised to find a fight against what they now knew to be Team Flare. In fact, the surprising bit was that there were only two agents stationed outside the tower. Clemont, Serena, and Meyer had immediately brandished their PokéBalls, and the Battle commenced.

And after that, Bonnie couldn't say what had happened.

She was looking for Squishy. It had definitely come this way; she was certain of that much. And she knew it wanted to help, though she didn't know how her little Squishy could do that.

Suddenly, she heard the faintest sound coming from above, not far from where they were. And she felt like…it was Squishy. And that whatever had just happened wasn't good.

"Bonnie, out of the way!"

Bonnie was taken by surprise when her dad knocked her out of the way, watching as a Dark Pulse Attack shot through the spot where she'd been standing. As she scrambled up, with her dad slow to follow, Bonnie checked her purse and saw Dedenne looking at her with concern. Bonnie sighed with relief.

"I'm sorry, Dedenne. I'll try and pay more attention. I'm just…" she sniffled, "I'm just worried about Squishy!"

* * *

Meyer didn't bother dusting himself off as he got up. He was focused on keeping one eye on the Battle and one eye on Bonnie.

He'd thought it would be easy to take down the two Team Flare people. It was two on three in their favor, after all. And while Meyer didn't know anything about Serena's battling skills, he knew his son. His son was a Gym Leader, and a mighty fine one as far as Meyer was concerned. So Clemont and himself, plus whatever assistance Serena could provide, should have been more than enough.

It quickly became clear that it wasn't.

What the three of them had in battling experience and trusting their Pokémon, the Team Flare girls had in preparation. And the element of surprise. Meyer hadn't known that he would be facing the Battle of his life today, with the fate of the world resting partially on his shoulders.

But these girls had. And that gave them the advantage.

Meyer was focusing his efforts on the Liepard. His Mega Blaziken was strong against the Dark-Type, and he didn't want to risk using his Fighting moves on the Druddigon, who potentially had Rough Skin. But every time he managed to get in a square hit, super-effective and sure to do a lot of damage, the Liepard pounced back to its Trainer, who would spray it with a Hyper Potion.

Meyer didn't have any Potions on him. And while he was willing to bet that Clemont or Serena at least had a few, was now the time to use them? Or should they be saving them for a bigger Battle that might happen later?

If they even won this one, that was.

While Meyer was distracted with Bonnie, Mega Blaziken had taken a Shadow Claw right to the chest, knocking it back and doing considerable damage.

"Blaziken, are you okay?"

Before he could get an answer, a giant vine sprouted up between them, curling right towards Mega Blaziken. If the vine landed on it, that would be the end of the road for Blaziken. Meyer was going to call to Clemont for help, but before he could, the vine was smashed harmlessly out of the way.

When the dust cleared, Meyer saw a Mega Garchomp standing on the remnants of the vine, and he could have laughed with relief.

"Professor Sycamore!" he called when the professor came in sight.

"Looked like you needed some help!" Professor Sycamore returned.

Meyer was about say how grateful he was, but before he got the chance, both Team Flare girls piped up.

"Mairin, what are you doing here?"

"Lysandre wanted you safe!"

Serena looked at Mairin in horror. "You know Team Flare?"

Mairin looked stricken, but didn't say anything in response.

Professor Sycamore put his hand out toward Serena. "Now's not the time."

"The old man's right," the green-haired agent said. "It's time to battle! Go, Bisharp!"

"Yeah, it's time to even this out. Mightyena, go!"

And the stakes rose.

* * *

As Sawyer ran out into the streets, he asked himself: what would Ash do?

Sawyer asked himself this because he knew one thing and he knew it well—his instincts sucked. Without being honed by intense study and practice, Sawyer didn't excel at much of anything. But he was a hard worker, and over the years he'd figured out how he learned the best. And that was a combination of observing, recording, and hands-on practice. And who was the person he observed? Ash.

It had paid off in a big way. Sure, Sawyer had hoped to make it further in the Kalos League than he had, but he'd improved massively since he'd met Ash. He'd learned so much more about strategy and having a compassionate relationship with his Pokémon. So in this time of crisis, he knew Ash wouldn't steer him wrong.

And Ash would fight.

Sawyer looked at the friends of Ash that he'd sat with in the stands and escaped the stadium with, and he knew they were thinking the same thing. Fight.

The four of them traversed the streets of Lumiose, wandering the concentric circles rather than finding a way straight out as Diantha had recommended. And the wreckage they saw was staggering.

Despite what Lysandre had asserted in his terrifying manifesto for mankind, he wasn't doing a clean wipe. A meteor wasn't dropping to the Earth to eliminate the world's population while he and his people holed up in a bunker. No, he was utilizing a Pokémon to slowly and randomly destroy everything that made a civilization. Buildings were destroyed, power lines were down, fires were growing all over the city. And in the process, people were dying. Slowly, but surely.

Sawyer had seen his first dead body not an hour after the destruction had begun.

A woman, middle-aged, had been hit by the rubble of a now mostly destroyed building, and was crushed under it. There wasn't a huge growing puddle of blood or some other macabre indicator, but there was a large hunk of stone still resting on her head. And when Sawyer saw the gray pallor of her face, and the slack expression, he'd known.

So they were slashing vines, heaving up rubble, and putting out fires. They were all good Trainers. The boys had all qualified for and participated in the Kalos League, and Shauna had made it far in her first year in the Pokémon Showcase circuit. So it was dangerous, yes, but in perhaps a naïve way, they felt capable of helping.

"It's hopeless," Shauna heaved as another vine smashed through the road in the place of one her Ivysaur had sliced with Razor Leaf. "We can't clear the roads like this."

"We can't do nothing, Shauna," Tierno argued.

Tierno was sweating profusely. Even though his shirt was black, one could see his pit stains running all the way to the bottom hem, and the back was soaked. Meanwhile, his Blastoise was putting out a small fire that had been caused by one of the downed power lines but hadn't gotten the chance to spread.

"We can save ourselves. Breathe this air!" She thrust her arms out to gesture to the air at large. "This air is becoming toxic with the dust from all the buildings collapsing. If we stay out here, we'll be coughing for weeks!"

"This isn't about us, Shauna. You heard Lysandre; this is about the world as we know it!"

"But we're just four people against the will of a Legendary Pokémon!"

"Not just four people," Sawyer insisted, jumping into the argument. "I'm sure that Ash and his friends are doing what they can to help too! And what about the poli—"

"Okay, more than four!" Shauna conceded. "But here on this single road, there are four of us. And even here, we're not effective. So…"

Shauna looked at the other two expectantly, as if that lingering "so" had been successful in closing her argument, and they should have been putting their hands up in defeat.

"Trevor?" Tierno said exhaustedly, looking for some backup from his friend. When he didn't get any response, he looked over to where his friend seemed to be ignoring him and asked again, "Trevor?"

The second probe brought Trevor back to the group and he shook his head, the orange bowl-cut shifting a touch out of place. "Sorry, I just…is that Diantha?"

* * *

As Diantha had listened to Lysandre's interruption, Olympia's prophecy had come screaming back to her. A Kalos disaster. This wasn't some threat, like Team Aqua or Team Magma of Hoenn that would just go away—this was an imminent disaster that Lysandre might just pull off if he and his cronies weren't stopped.

And, well, she was the Champion. It was her job to stop it.

She didn't know where Lysandre was. The video—whether it had been live or pre-shot—hadn't revealed anything about his location. It was fair to guess that some of his people must have been at Prism Tower, but there was no guarantee that he or anyone else important in his team was. The only thing that she could say with absolute certainty at that moment was that Zygarde was at Prism Tower, and like it or not, Zygarde was the weapon.

And the weapon had to be eliminated.

Diantha was moving on foot to Prism Tower. Perhaps she could have used one of her Pokémon to take her there, but she knew that they were in for the Battle of their lives, and she needed them at full strength. Any extra fraction of a second resting in the PokéBalls would be vital to their showdown against one of their region's Legendaries.

As she ran, she tried not to notice the destruction of what once had been her region's crown jewel. Diantha felt a huge obligation to be on the ground, helping people and Pokémon flee the city, but she had to prioritize. Any time she spent lingering on the individuals was a moment less spent taking on Zygarde.

Then two kids ran out in front of her.

She hoped that the kids hadn't seen how much they'd startled her. She was strategizing against Zygarde and hadn't been expecting anything to jump out at her, save for those damned vines.

The boy was Tierno, a Trainer she recognized from his Battles earlier in the week during the League. Diantha didn't remember the name of the girl, but was fairly certain that she recognized her from the Pokémon Showcase Master Class.

"Diantha!" the girl breathed. "We don't know what to do!"

Diantha shook her head, still trying to sort through her surprise, but also not sure at all what the girl was trying to tell her. The girl's eyes were wide and shining, but with what? Fear? Desperation? Panic?

"If you're lost, just look to see if you're heading away from Prism Tower. Since Prism Tower is in the center of town, anywhere away from it will lead you out."

The boy shook his head, flinging drops of sweat out of his hair as he did so. "No, we want to help, but even with all our Pokémon we can't seem to make any progress."

"Yeah, we've been cutting vines, moving rubble, drenching fires, looking for people, and trying to save buildings, but it's not enough!"

As the girl ticked their deeds off on her fingers, two other boys appeared behind them, also familiar from having participated in the Kalos League.

The kids were young. The red-haired boy and the girl in particular looked like absolute babies to Diantha, who, in her industry, was used to seeing people fake youth through an assortment of different anti-aging therapy. But these were just plain old kids, whose innocence would largely be destroyed after today. If there _was_ anything after today.

These kids wanted to help. And she'd seen that they were all capable Trainers. Not masters by any means, but they absolutely had something to offer.

"Alright," Diantha said. "You're dividing your efforts too much. Put your focus on the most immediate problems. Tackle fires with your Water Pokémon, but supplement by tossing rubble and smothering the fire. That'll also help clear up the streets. But if you see any Pokémon or people, help them immediately. Constantly call to see if there's anyone around who's trapped."

All four Trainers nodded.

"We can do that," Tierno said.

She saw a bit of rejuvenated determination in the group, now that they had a slightly more focused plan. As the boys began to turn away, eager to get started on their new goal, the girl asked, "What about all the vines?"

Diantha looked to Prism Tower. "Leave the vines to me."

* * *

Surrender or fight?

Give in or stand up?

Live or die?

Live or…probably not live?

Alain was hardly in the presence of mind to make any sort of decision regarding Lysandre's proposal. He was repulsed by Lysandre's newly declared mission, but he was already in too deep, wasn't he? If it was a choice between turning on Lysandre and briefly being able to live with himself, or siding with Lysandre, never being able to live with himself…there wasn't really a choice.

Because he already couldn't live with himself and couldn't imagine any kind of a future he'd want to live in.

"I'm waiting," Lysandre said, sounding oddly genial.

Alain couldn't believe he hadn't noticed the dark edges to Lysandre's face before. In the waning light of day, Alain could see the crevices of deep frown lines at his brow and by his mouth. The light made them look especially severe—the lines paved by a man who was very unhappy. As Professor Sycamore entered middle age, he was growing crow's feet and laugh lines, and the lines on his forehead made him look studious, not angry.

"I don't want to fight," Alain said carefully, speaking up so his voice could carry over the wind. "My Pokémon and Ash's were fainted just a couple hours ago."

Ash's Pokémon were chattering on and off constantly, trying to bring some semblance of attention or awareness back to their friends. But at that statement, they all piped up, trying to voice their own exhaustion to corroborate Alain's case.

"Ah, but you're saying if your Pokémon were at full health, you _would_ want to fight."

"No, I'm just saying it would be impossible for Ash or me to battle right now!"

"Impossible?" Lysandre stroked his beard, looking every part the villain Alain now knew him to be. "That doesn't sound like you, Alain. No, it's not impossible; it'll just be very short."

Lysandre pressed a button and Ash turned to Alain abruptly with Greninja speeding forth. Before Alain had time to think, he reflexively called out his Charizard.

"Charizard, Dragon Claw!"

* * *

"Dragon Claw, Druddigon!"

"Sylveon, intercept it!"

Clemont watched Serena's Sylveon run towards his Chespin, the intended mark for the Attack. Druddigon slashed, but Sylveon, being a Fairy Type, acquired no extra damage.

"Quick, Chespin! Leech Seed!"

Druddigon was still shaking off Sylveon's counter, and didn't have the time to escape before it became wrapped up in a tangle of weedy vines. It cried out in pain as it tried to flap its wings, but every limb was constrained, and its energy began draining immediately.

"Chespin ches!" Chespin cried jubilantly as it felt its own energy being restored.

"Fuck," Aliana swore as she watched her last Pokémon's health being sucked away.

They had outmaneuvered Team Flare. Sure, the girls had used healing items to their hearts' content, but Clemont, Serena, Meyer, and Professor Sycamore had strategized better. They'd played defense and covered each other well, only risking an Attack when they could really make it count. They'd saved their Pokémon's health and relied on each other. Without a strategy better than all-out attacking, Team Flare was going to lose.

Gritting her teeth, Aliana returned Druddigon to its 'Ball as Bryony shouted, "Retreat!"

As the two girls prepared to jump off of the rubble they were standing on, back to Prism Tower's entrance, Clemont yelled, "Oh no, you don't!" and grabbed Bryony with his Aipom arm. No longer having to control his Leech Seed, Chespin wrapped Aliana in a Vine Whip as well.

Both girls came tumbling down the other side of the rubble, toward their captors, but Clemont and Chespin made sure that they didn't hit the ground. As Serena, Clemont, and Professor Sycamore returned their Pokémon, Meyer walked over to the girls and took their PokéBalls.

"Can't have them using these," he said, pocketing them. "We'll have to give them to the police."

"We have to bring these two to the station also, right, dad?"

Clemont knew that the answer was yes, but he looked at Meyer with an expression that clearly said: "Do we have to?"

He still needed to see what was going on in the tower; that's why they'd gone this way and challenged these two agents to begin with. He needed to see if his Pokémon were okay. And if he could, he needed to figure out whatever was happening inside Prism Tower and take that down too.

Blaziken had relaxed out of its Mega form, and was shifting some of the larger boulders around to make a cage that wouldn't crush Bryony or Aliana, but would keep them from moving much while they figured out what to do. Meanwhile, Meyer had yet to respond to Clemont. When Clemont looked over at his dad, he saw that he was casting about, looking for something.

"Clemont? Where's Bonnie?"

The pit that Clemont had felt in his stomach so many times on his journey with Ash and Bonnie came back stronger than it ever had before. Yes, Bonnie had run off before, yes, she'd been in dangerous situations over the past year or so, but this was different. This was a city-wide disaster, and absolutely not the place for a seven-year-old to be off on her own just because she felt a strong connection to a Pokémon that wasn't even hers.

When a brief glance around showed no sign of bright yellow hair, Clemont said gravely, "She's gone after Squishy. That's the only possibility."

"Then I have to go find her."

Meyer began running off and Blaziken was quick to follow. Clemont was left gaping, still tied to Bryony and without any real solution as to how to detach himself from her.

Almost as an afterthought, Meyer called out behind him: "I love you, son!"

"Love you too, dad," Clemont said, but not with any volume that his father would be able to hear.

* * *

As Clemont and Chespin tied up the Team Flare girls, Serena breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Return, Sylveon. You deserve a rest!"

Serena was so thankful that she'd spent so much of her journey watching Ash battle and train, oftentimes against Clemont and his Pokémon. She wasn't a battler, and never would be, but she had a handle on it at least, with a confidence that she would never have if it hadn't been for Ash. And seeing Clemont battle as often as she did meant that she knew his style—and he knew hers—and they were able to read each other and work together well while battling against Team Flare.

"Thank you so much for the help, Professor Sycamore," Serena said as the professor returned his Garchomp. "I don't know what we would have done without you."

"You all would have persevered as you always do," he replied, grinning and tucking the PokéBall away.

Over Professor Sycamore's shoulder, Serena could see Mairin and felt a pang of guilt. She had snapped at Mairin in a time of conflict without knowing the whole story. Serena didn't ever want to make anyone feel bad, and here she had done just that to a girl she barely knew, who she already knew was going through a tough time. Serena walked past Professor Sycamore and over to where Mairin had been standing back, out of the action.

"Mairin?" Serena asked, trying to get the other girl's eyes up from the ground. "I'm really sorry about what I said or what it seemed as though I thought. I already know that you're a good person, so I know that whatever happened in the past, you don't like what Team Flare is doing now any more than I do. So I apologize."

Serena bowed to the waist and then righted herself, hoping to see some change of expression on Mairin's face. It did. It crumpled.

"I did something bad."

That scared Serena a little. Had she been wrong? Had Mairin known more about Team Flare than she'd let on?

"Oh no, Mairin. What's wrong?"

"I left my Chespie with Lysandre! He probably hasn't done anything to help this whole time. And now Chespie is in so much danger!"

Serena was relieved. For a moment. Mairin was as shocked about this turn of events as Serena was, which was good. But as she saw Mairin crying, her heart went out to her completely. The Mairin she'd met the day before had seemed so strong. She'd obviously been worried about Chespie, but had been able to smile and laugh anyway. She'd had hope.

Now Mairin seemed broken. There was nothing fun-loving or goofy about a girl crying into her hands as a city was ripped apart around her.

"We'll just have to go get it, then."

Mairin looked up, her eyes swollen and red—this hadn't been her first crying fit today, evidently. "What?"

"We're going to get Chespie. You said it was at Lysandre Labs, right? So we just have to go find Chespie and everything will be fine."

The more Serena thought about it, the angrier she got. Who did Lysandre think he was to lie to a girl about her Pokémon? Her _partner_ Pokémon, of all things! And who did Lysandre think he was to try and destroy her region? If they could make it to Lysandre Labs, maybe there would be some important information there. Something they could use to take down Lysandre, and save the world.

"Mairin, I thought you wanted to check on Alain," Professor Sycamore said. Obviously, he'd listened to the whole exchange.

"I—" Mairin started, but Serena interrupted.

"Oh! Alain and Ash were looking for you when I last saw them."

"When was that?" Professor Sycamore asked.

"Right after we left the stadium."

"Alain found me," Mairin said, her voice coming out as a scratchy whisper. "And then I lost him."

"If Alain and Ash are together, they're bound to be okay," Serena said, trying to be comforting. "They're both amazing battlers."

Mairin finally looked up at Serena. "You don't know Alain."

Serena didn't know what Mairin meant by that and didn't know if she should ask. No, she didn't really know Alain. Not better than Mairin, certainly. But it was irrefutable that Alain was a fantastic battler; he'd just won the Lumiose Conference, after all, and Ash hadn't made it easy for him.

"It's up to you, Mairin," Professor Sycamore said, stepping in. "Do you want to look for Alain or Chespie?"

Mairin only had to consider the question for a moment before she answered, "Chespie."

Serena nodded, knowing that would be the answer. Regardless of who Mairin was more concerned about in the moment, the fact of the matter was that Alain had the tools with which to assist himself; Chespie was in a coma. There was no contest.

"I'll tell Clemont. Then we'll go."

* * *

Olympia was in a state, and Charlene didn't know what to do. She'd been under Olympia's tutelage for fifteen years and borne witness to innumerable predictions. But never had one gone on this long, nor left Olympia so far from herself.

After the initial breakdown, Olympia had shifted in and out from catatonic to screams. Charlene knew that Olympia was always trying to say something—they were never screams of agony or pain—but she'd mostly lost her verbal capabilities and made no sense.

Another psychic had wanted to call emergency services for a doctor, but Charlene hadn't agreed. Whatever Olympia had to say was important. If a doctor saw her right now, she'd be sedated. And then they'd likely never know what she was so fervently trying to tell them.

Charlene was cradling Olympia's head when her eyes went wide and iridescent again and Charlene knew this would be the one.

"Silence!" she called.

Olympia began muttering like she'd been doing for hours, but she was getting louder and clearer.

Then, in a voice-shredding shout: "The sundial! The power of the sundial! Save the sundial!"

And then she was out cold.

"Call the doctor," Charlene demanded, her voice trembling and weak. "Someone call a doctor!"

* * *

This was one of the most important things he had ever done. It probably landed somewhere below helping the twerp and that Lugia save the world but somewhere above that time they had traded Jessie's Lickitung for Wobbuffet.

They were covering the story. If it weren't for them, no one would know what was happening in Kalos. And they were getting the real story. Ever since Malva had left, they'd covered the destruction of the stadium, talked to the Champion, and shown the disaster in real time.

The fact that people were viewing this show and seeing what Lysandre was doing _mattered_. Everything had just changed forever for Kalos, and the world needed to see that.

So, James had flown them toward Prism Tower. They'd planted the chopper in the most open area they could find close to the tower's base with the intention to hike the rest of the way on foot. If they could show what was causing the vines or show more people who were behind the attack, the story would become clearer. Plus, police would know who they were looking for and people might better know how to save the city.

Not that James usually liked the idea of tipping off the police; they weren't narcs or anything. But today it was important.

As they got closer to the tower, they didn't expect to see anyone. The area was still being avoided, even by most emergency relief personnel. The whole of the city needed help and this was the most destroyed section. In other words: it had less chance of hiding survivors. Rescue teams were more likely to find people who had gotten hurt trying to escape the city, most of whom would be closer to the stadium than Lumiose Tower.

But frankly, they should have expected to see one of the twerps running their way.

It was the current girl twerp, the one who had beaten Jessie in the last Pokémon Performance, James remembered bitterly. Next to her were Professor Sycamore and another twerpy looking girl they didn't recognize.

As they drew close, Jessie surprised him by waving and saying, "Care to do an interview?"

"Jess, you do realize dat's one of da twerps, dontcha?" Meowth asked, seeming to share his shock.

Jessie threw Meowth a nasty look as if to say, "Idiot."

"Sorry, we don't have time!" the twerpette said. "We're headed to Lysandre Labs."

The word was like a shot of electricity through the James's system and he instantly knew why buzz words were so important in media.

"Lysandre Labs?" he asked. "As that Lysandre guy's base?"

"That's the one," Professor Sycamore said. "Now, if you'll excuse us."

"We'll take you there!" Jessie blurted out.

The extra twerp looked at her with wide eyes, like she couldn't believe she'd just received the generous gift of a lifetime supply of ramen. "What?"

"We have a helicopter," Jessie continued. "If you know the way, we'll fly you there in exchange for an interview."

"Done!"

The twerpette didn't seem to even consider it. She clapped her hands together excitedly—a dissonant moment of celebration with the sound of vines smashing through buildings in the background.

"Okay, this way to the chopper!"

* * *

Misty had fantasized about Lumiose City for a long time. The image she'd painted was outside a café, sitting alone at a wrought iron table with the Prism Tower in the background. She'd have a Lumiose galette and a café latte, feathered with a foam leaf on top, rich from the high-fat Moomoo Milk that she'd shamelessly requested. A handsome man would approach, asking if there was room for two at the table. Then they'd fall in love.

The ending was quick; Misty could acknowledge that. But real love was much too complicated to fantasize about. It was the ambience and the idea of love that was so sweet and made her solar plexus go warm. And perhaps protecting that delicate idea she had of Lumiose is what had kept her from ever visiting.

For as soon as she spotted the smoke in the sky, she knew she had found Lumiose. And just like that, the fantasy crumbled.

There would be no galette, no coffee, and no man, because no café was going to be open in Lumiose for a long, long time.

Misty took Charizard lower in the sky, hoping to see better through the dark smoke clouding the sun to what was going on. She heard a helicopter before she saw it, coming from the center of the city.

And there was Prism Tower.

Its height made it easy to recognize, and it was easy to see how it had become the cultural image of Kalos. As it was, it looked like a beautiful lighthouse that had been overrun with ivy. And it wouldn't be long before it toppled over.

"Charizard, slow."

Misty took Staryu's PokéBall and released it, making sure that the Pokémon wouldn't fly out of her lap upon materialization.

The city was on fire. Some of the gray in the air was certainly dust from buildings collapsing, but much of it was smoke. She wouldn't be putting out any fires, but she and Staryu could at least give them a good dousing as she went and make things a little easier for the assuredly overdrawn firefighters.

She took Charizard down so that they were just over the tops of the buildings. Misty could see the circular grid of the city, like a spoked bicycle wheel. She had Staryu aim brief Hydro Pump Attacks at the fires that she could spot, but ultimately, they had to keep going.

Looking at all the destruction from the air instead of onscreen told a very different story. There were probably parts of the city that were no longer accessible, be it from vines or fallen buildings or both.

As Charizard flew closer, Misty could see the sparks of a Battle between two huge Pokémon—the one she'd seen on the TV and a green counterpart. They were on the ground, dangerously close to Prism Tower, and seemed to have already leveled a couple of buildings in the midst of their Battle

That was probably where she was most needed. Misty could assume that the vines were being caused by the red Pokémon—Zygarde. Vines like that erupting from under a city couldn't be caused by anything manmade. If she fought Zygarde, or at least distracted it, that might mean the end of the vines and the beginning of rebuilding for the city.

As she swept closer to the tower, Misty heard Charizard grumble and he began to fly up towards the top of Prism Tower.

"No, Charizard! I know there's a lot of smoke, but—"

Charizard ignored her, and Misty was brought back to the early days with Ash. Back to when Charizard had been so disobedient that Misty thought Ash would never get a handle on him, and Misty worried that she'd made a mistake. Even though Charizard had performed admirably for years, he wasn't her Pokémon. Why had she been so arrogant as to think that he would obey her?

Misty's worried elevated as Charizard continued their aerial ascent. It was harder to hold on to Charizard at this angle, so she scrambled to return Staryu to its 'Ball and then held tight to Charizard's neck, suddenly very worried. She was in an unknown country under attack by an evil organization, riding on top of a Pokémon that wasn't hers and was no longer in control while a fall to the ground would mean certain death.

She had not planned well.

Ash had always been the impulsive one. Brock had been the rational foil to that, but she'd always lain somewhere in the middle. She'd been forced to the rational side just to even out Ash's brashness, but when left on her own, was that the person she was? If she couldn't even plan well enough to guide a Pokémon's flying, how would she be of any use to this ravaged region?

As Misty had let her thoughts run away with her, Charizard had nearly reached the top of the tower. And when Misty bothered to look outwards, she saw her worst fear.

Ash was in the middle of things, alright, as she could have predicted. But he seemed to be fighting for the wrong side.

He was fighting for that man called Lysandre.

* * *

"Thank you so much for allowing us the use of your helicopter," Professor Sycamore said once the six of them were strapped in, him in the back, next to the newslady.

"It's our pleasure," she replied as her two crew members took control of the copter and fired it up.

"Mairin, do you think you know how to get to Lysandre Labs from here?"

Mairin seemed to have shaken off a bit of her panic from earlier once she'd settled on the goal of saving Chespie. Her eyes were clearer and she didn't seem as fragile, which gave Professor Sycamore hope. The poor girl had been through so much in the last year, after having only just started on her journey. There was always risk of danger on a Pokémon journey, but he'd rarely been privy to a sad case such as hers.

"I do, Professor."

"Great! Then you can tell me where to go!" the blue-haired techie said.

Mairin shifted in the seat so that she could talk to him without having to crane her neck backwards, as well as keep an eye on the sky through the window shield. Satisfied that Mairin would be able to handle it, Sycamore turned back to the newslady. "So, what were you looking for me to say in this interview?"

"Actually, Professor," Serena interrupted, looking at him with a hardness in her expression, so different from the doe-eyed girl he'd seen enter his lab so many months ago looking for a starter Pokémon, "I'm the one who agreed to an interview. And I'd like to do it, if that's alright."

Professor Sycamore was taken aback. As the adult in the situation, he figured it was only appropriate that he do the interview. He was a voice that the world trusted and a name that they knew, and that's why he'd figured that the news crew had been insistent on an interview in the first place. Before he got the chance to say anything, though, the newslady said, "Sure! Do you know what you're going to say?"

"Yes."

"Okay." The newslady had to take control of the light, sound, and video, since her two companions were manning the helicopter. She situated the light on her lap and pointed it as flatteringly toward Serena as she could, whilst hoisting the boom up to the roof of the helicopter. She flipped the sound back on and pointed the video camera from the window where it had been resting towards herself, despite barely having enough light on her for the camera to pick up and said, "Hello, this is Jessie Murrow, back with an exclusive interview by a Kalosian citizen affected by the attacks today."

The camera was flipped toward Serena and the newslady pointed a finger at her, showing that it was time to go. Serena steeled herself and nodded.

"Hello, Kalos region, and the world beyond. My name is Serena. You might know me from Pokévision and for participating in the most recent Pokémon Showcase Master Class. I am a Pokémon Performer from Vaniville Town. As I'm sure you all have seen, Lumiose City has been taken over by the likes of Lysandre and his constituents in Team Flare in what can only be described as a terrorist attack. He has plans to take over the world…but we won't let him!" Serena declared, her voice growing high and strident.

Professor Sycamore took in her voice, accompanied by her red face and rapidly blinking eyes and knew that she was trying to hold back tears. Suddenly it made perfect sense why the news crew had been okay with interviewing her over him. This was a beautiful, young girl making an impassioned speech on international television. People would see today as the day that her naïveté, her innocence was shattered. They would eat out of her hand.

"My friends and I will fight him and Team Flare until they're done or we are! But I believe in my friends and for the last few months, I've finally believed in myself. Please, keep watching this broadcast so that you see what happens. I don't know what Lysandre's plan is to spread this attack, but I know he has one, so wherever you are, stay vigilant. But don't give up on Lumiose City and Kalos, because we sure haven't! Not now, and not ever! And one last thing. Mom, if you're watching this…I love you. And I hope you're proud of me."


	3. Hoping

The television hadn't been turned off since 7pm, when the pre-match had begun. For the final Battle of the Kalos League there was no opening ceremony or posturing to be had by the competitors, rather there was an hour of analysis and highlights from the previous matches. The Trainers' skills and strategies were analyzed by professional commentators and odds were set on the match.

It was now well after Professor Oak's bedtime, but his eyes were still glued to the screen.

That pretty, young girl. Professor Oak was sure that he recognized her from his summer camp. That must have been close to ten years ago.

As Professor Oak watched the speech, Delia had gotten up and was pouring more tea that had to be cold by then. After that, she moved on to fluffing the pillows and tidying a throw that hadn't been out of place to begin with.

"Uh, Delia," he started, looking away from the television, "is everything okay?"

"Hmm?" Delia turned to him, her eyes wide. "Oh, everything's fine!"

Her voice was as singsong as ever, even managing to carry a believable element of cheer. But Professor Oak knew Delia better than that. The cleaning was a tick and, while she'd been looking towards him, her eyes had been large and glassy, like she hadn't really seen him.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes! Everything's okay."

Delia took off her short, pink cardigan and began dusting the bookshelves with it. "It's okay. It's okay. It's okay."

She began saying it like a mantra, repeated over and over again until it lost all meaning. Her voice grew low in her throat, pressing on her chords and becoming slower with each intonation.

"It's okay…It's okay…It's okay…"

"Delia." Professor Oak stood up from the couch and took her cardigan away from her, forcing her to look at him. "Delia, stop."

Her hand was still curled around where the sweater had been and her eyes were wide as Professor Oak forced her to look at him.

"Why is it always him?" she whispered. "She said, 'My friends and I.' That's Ash! Why is it always my Ash?"

After hours of watching the news report, Delia's jaw began to tremble. For a moment she tried to hold it back, pressing her lips together and shutting her eyes. But when they opened again, the floodgates poured out, and there was no more strength left in her. She fell into Professor Oak's waiting arms and began to sob, gripping the lab coat that he was still wearing from his work earlier in the day. There was nothing for her friend to do but to hold her and softly whisper, "It's okay, Delia. It's okay."

* * *

"Pause the TV."

"Drew, this is a live report!"

"Pause the TV!"

Reluctantly, May paused the TV they had going in the hotel room and looked at Drew with a very unimpressed expression. The television was frozen on the face of a girl with a light brown—almost golden—bob of wavy hair. "I paused."

"Go back a little."

"Drew!"

"Just give me the remote."

May didn't bother hiding her annoyance as she tossed the remote over to Drew's bed. She huffed her annoyance at him, but he didn't seem to care or even notice as he methodically rewound the screen back a few seconds, then frame by frame until he landed on the image he wanted. This was before Jessie Murrow had started speaking, when the camera was pointed out the helicopter window. As the helicopter had flown up over the buildings, it had come just about level with the top of Prism Tower, and that's what the screen was now stopped on.

"See, look right there!"

"I don't know what I'm looking at."

May was surprised when Drew didn't roll his eyes at her idiocy or anything, but instead hopped off the bed and pointed to a corner of the screen that glowed red. The whole sky of Lumiose had taken on a reddish hue since the vines had taken over. It seemed as though electricity was out over parts of the city; power lines had been knocked down by the vines and felled buildings. The power that remained had to be produced by generators or the rare street that hadn't had its lines knocked down yet.

That was all to say that Lumiose should have been unusually dark that night. But it seemed that Zygarde's power—whatever it was that was creating and controlling all those vines—was lighting up the night with a deep red, as though the air itself was swathed in blood.

But what Drew was pointing out was a larger glow. For a moment, May expected it to be the Zygarde that they had seen on the screen earlier in the night perched atop Prism Tower.

But it wasn't.

"Oh no," May gasped. "Is that…?"

"I wasn't sure," Drew said, looking at May, then again at the screen. He wished he could zoom it in and get a better picture, but that just wasn't possible on a television. Still, it was clear that there were people on the building, and Pokémon elevated above. One of those people was definitely Lysandre—the bold hairstyle made him easily recognizable. "But if you think so too, then it must be, right?"

May nodded, her hand still over her mouth from her earlier gasp. "I don't know what's happened to him…but that's Ash."

* * *

In Dawn's years of traveling, she'd learned how important it was to plan extra time, so as soon as Ash's match had ended, she'd turned the TV off and given herself time to finish up at her mom's house before heading out early to the airport, giving her a half-hour's leeway for what should be an hour or so drive.

She wanted to go to Kalos. She'd already done the Sinnoh and Hoenn contest circuits as well as having just gotten runner-up in Kanto's Grand Festival.

Runner-up again.

She needed to try something new.

It happened that whenever she finished up in a region, she liked to regroup at home for at least a few weeks. Her mom was usually able to provide some helpful insight and advice, rejuvenating Dawn's spirit before she shipped out again.

After Kanto, her mom had done just that and given her the idea to go to Kalos, where fashion was even more widely regarded than in Sinnoh. Dawn was hoping to immerse herself in the fashion and the Pokéstyling and hopefully catch a few Pokémon Showcases. She was looking for a new source of inspiration.

Plus, if she went to Kalos now, right after the League, she'd miss all of the traffic and expensive flights of the Kalos League, but she'd still be able to see Ash and meet his new friends!

Unfortunately, the drive from Twinleaf Town to Hearthome was long, and Hearthome held the closest airport. So she'd been in the taxi for over an hour and was in much need of a stretch.

Dawn stepped out and immediately felt the stiffness in her knees. The drive hadn't been bad—hardly any traffic in her direction to the city, while the other side was unusually clogged up—but she so much preferred travelling by foot. She put her hands on the small of her back and tipped backwards, hearing the satisfying crack of a few vertebrae shifting. And with that, she was ready to get her suitcase.

The suitcase was mostly empty, of course, so that she'd have plenty of room to take things back. She wasn't going to trek around Kalos like she had Sinnoh, Hoenn, and Kanto, but she had still packed as lightly as if she were. She was going to Lumiose primarily and she might travel to another town if she caught wind of a Pokémon Showcase that she wanted to go to. But other than that, she was there to study Kalosian culture and style, and what better place for that than Lumiose?

She thanked her cab driver and walked inside. As she did so, she noticed an odd number of people leaving out that same door, suitcase in hand. That was odd, because arrivals were supposed to leave from the lower floor while departures—like her—entered through the upper level.

Nevertheless, she made it to security and handed her boarding pass to the man at the podium. She had her Trainer ID in hand, waiting to hand it over to him, but he just looked at the pass, then at her with concern.

"Have you seen the news today, miss?"

"I, uh, no?"

Had she done something stupid to her boarding pass? Was there a criminal loose that looked like her? Had she missed out on a freak snowstorm?

"There's been a terrorist attack in Kalos. No planes are going anywhere in the region until further notice."

"Oh no, I didn't know." Dawn was struck with the tragedy of it for only a moment before she realized she had an important question. "Where was it?"

" _Is_ it—it's still ongoing," the man corrected. "In Lumiose, right after the Conference."

"Oh my God—Ash!"

* * *

"Cilan!"

"Chili, I told you I don't want any spoilers for the match until I can watch it myself!"

It was morning in Unova and Cilan had arrived too early in the kitchen at the Striaton Gym to catch so much as a glimpse of Ash's match against Alain. However, it had been recorded and Cilan was going to watch it as soon as he was off duty at the café. Cilan and Cress tended to switch off who was first in the kitchen—since Chili wasn't reliable to do anything well before at least 8am—and today it was Cilan's turn. He knew that he probably could have asked Cress to switch with him so that he could watch his friend's final match in the League, but he didn't want to do that to his brother. Surely he had the patience to wait until later in the day to watch the Battle.

All he had to do was avoid Chili telling him who won first.

"No, Cilan, it's not that! I mean, I know who won, but I'm totally not telling you. No, Lumiose has been attacked by some group called Team Flare!"

Cilan dropped the bread dough he'd been plaiting so that he could stare Chili down.

"You had better not be joking, Chili."

"I'm not! I just woke up, but it seems as though it's been going on for a couple of hours!"

Cilan took a breath. He would do no one any good by getting distressed. Chili didn't deal well with either of his brothers matching his hot temper—it only stood to freak him out more. So Cilan needed to remain approachable.

"Are Ash and his friends okay?"

"I don't know. There aren't any reports out like that yet. Cress is trying to get ahold of Siebold, but apparently he and the other Elites took today as a day off and wherever he is he isn't getting service. Some people are posting on PokéVision that they're safe but as for the news, there aren't any names or numbers yet, but…"

"But what?"

"They're guessing that dozens are dead. And that that estimate is only going to rise the longer this goes on for."

"And no word on any of the competitors of the Kalos League?"

"I think a lot of them had Pokémon that could fly, so some have escaped and posted stuff, but all of Ash's Pokémon were fainted after he lost to Ala—"

Chili covered his mouth, realizing he'd done the one thing his brother had asked him not to do. But Cilan couldn't possibly be annoyed by something that seemed so petty now. His friend was missing, possibly hurt or in trouble with nothing but weakened Pokémon to protect him.

Knowing how the match played out was the least of his worries.

* * *

Iris had woken early that morning with the idea that Berries would be just the thing. They would give her an edge in the Pokémon World Tournament being held south of Driftveil. The tournament was for sport, rather than for any title, like the Unova League, but if Drayden was ever going to nominate her to take over his Gymship, she needed to be known publicly as a good Trainer. With its low stakes, the PWT seemed the best place to start.

Swinging through the trees also cleared Iris's head, giving her the focus she would need to proceed in the tournament, especially as the competition grew stiffer. She stopped when she reached a Sitrus tree, smelling the berries to see if they were ripe. And they were. Iris had just plucked two when a light breeze wafted through the trees, giving her pause. Axew popped out of her hair and Iris hopped down to the ground, resting her hand on the dirt longer than she needed to balance herself.

When she stood, she looked at Axew and nodded.

"Somewhere…a Dragon is very angry."

* * *

When the interview was over, the newslady said something about having to take a short break to change the battery, and the screen went black. Brock continued to stare for a moment, seeing his own slack-jawed expression in the distorted reflection of the convex glass.

Then he shook himself out of it.

He scrambled out of his dorm and to the lounge, where the communal videophones were and punched in a familiar number. Before long, the screen lit up on a mass of blond hair and Brock had to take a deep breath to keep himself in check.

Since Daisy and Tracey had started dating, he'd had to practice with every fraying shred of will in his body not to turn into a melty mess when he saw the beautiful blond. Fortunately, with the night's events still heavily on his mind, it was an easier task than usual.

"Hey, Daisy," Brock said, his tone a tad stiff. "How are you doing?"

It was then that Brock noticed that her usual bright green eyes—so much like Misty's—were a little red rimmed, and her eyelashes were completely invisible to him on the screen. All her mascara had worn off and her lashes were their natural blond, which Brock had never seen before."

"Like, as well as the circumstances call for, I guess."

Brock then saw Tracey edge into the screen as well, resting his arms on the back of the chair that Daisy was sitting in. "Hey, Brock. What can we do for you?"

"I just wanted to check in on Misty…see how she was doing. Can I talk to her?"

"Uh," Tracey looked at Daisy, whose eyes were cast in her lap, "she's not here right now."

"Oh," Brock said, surprised. Misty had watched every single one of Ash's televised matches since they had separated, so he'd just figured that she'd still be watching the broadcast, just like he'd been. "Where is she?"

"Er…"

"Be real, Brock," Daisy snapped—or it would have been a snap if it had held any real conviction behind it. "Where is she? Like, you know where."

Daisy said it like he shouldn't have been surprised. But Brock couldn't help but let the disbelief—and dread—repress his voice into a whisper as he said, "She went to Kalos?"

* * *

Grace had never been a fan of professional battling. She loved Pokémon and had always desired having them in her life, just like Trainers did. But training itself just wasn't something she'd ever been interested in.

Still, the fact that Serena's friend Ash had made it all the way to the finals of the Kalos League made the competition just interesting enough to suffice as a pleasant background hum. She'd kept the television on throughout the day, occasionally checking in and watching the nailbiter between Ash and this boy Alain. However, it was after the match that she'd had to sit down, eyes suddenly glued to the television.

She must have been like anyone else in the Kalos region at that point. Silent and staring at the screen in front of her, hanging onto every word, every detail, every image, unable to imagine that this was happening in real time. She was brought back to just before Serena had left on her journey, when they'd first seen Ash on the television. At the time, that Garchomp rampaging through Kalos had seemed like a true disaster—now it looked like nothing.

When the footage cut back in after a short break, Grace's heart leapt into her throat. Her first thought was relief that her daughter was safe. Not so much as a scratch on her body. Then came the dread. Her baby was fighting a deadly battle, and there was nothing she could do about it.

_"…Mom, I love you. And I hope you're proud of me."_

Those words sent tremors down Grace's whole body. She was proud. She was proud, she was proud, she was proud.

She was terrified. She didn't even notice that she'd begun crying until she felt the tickle of tears halfway down her cheeks.

* * *

"I'm sorry, Dedenne. I'm sorry for putting you in danger, but I have to help!"

Bonnie had managed to slip away from the Battle before it had reached its climax. Professor Sycamore and Mairin had come and Bonnie was certain they'd win against those two loonies in the red suits. They simply had more Pokémon and a stronger cause. Her big brother and dad and them would win. And they didn't need her help to do it.

But Squishy did.

"Squishy is all alone and I told it that I wouldn't leave it. And I don't break promises!"

_Her mother was holding her hand as Bonnie sat next to the bed, legs dangling almost a full foot off the floor. The room was kind of dim and it smelled toxic. Like how all the cleaning products under the sink smelled. Bonnie didn't like it._

_"I'll never leave you, Bonnie," her mom said in a voice Bonnie no longer remembered. "I'll always be with you."_

_With tears of fear and confusion filling her eyes, Bonnie squeezed her mom's hand tightly and asked, "Promise?"_

_"I promise, baby."_

She had broken that promise. But Bonnie would never do that to Squishy. Or anyone. Ever.

Luckily, on her journey with Ash, Serena, and her brother, Bonnie had gotten good at running. Even if her brother had been slowing them up for most of it. So she was able to leap over vines and use her small size to climb under them to make it to the side of Prism Tower that Squishy had to be at. New vines were popping out of the ground all over the place—even more than on their way to the tower—but Bonnie wasn't scared. Well, not about that.

"I know that Dad and Big Brother will be worried," Bonnie huffed, "and probably mad, but they're just going to have to forgive me!"

Bonnie felt Squishy's presence before she saw it. And she wasn't surprised at all to see that it looked just like the Zygarde that had been atop Prism Tower, but was now grappling with it on the ground.

Buildings had been destroyed. In fact, Bonnie was fairly certain that the battle between the two was taking part on top of a handful of destroyed buildings that were now nothing but dust. The red Zygarde was relentless in its attack on Squishy. It was creating more vines and shooting them all towards Squishy, who dodged to the best of its ability. But in its new forme, Squishy was a huge target, and Bonnie had the sinking feeling that sooner or later, a vine would get it.

"Use a faraway Attack!" Bonnie shouted. There was little chance of her voice being heard over the sound of the vines tearing through the ground and stone buildings, but she hoped that Squishy would be able to feel her sentiment.

But Squishy didn't seem to hear her or feel her. Squishy went headlong through the vines, trying to take down Zygarde physically, screaming with a voice so low and different from the cute chirps that she'd heard from Squishy before. But while Squishy cried, Zygarde roared, and smacked Squishy down with a vine right to the face. Bonnie felt her stomach tighten as she watched and hoped for Squishy to scramble out.

Just in time to avoid another vine coming down, Squishy slithered away, but Bonnie could see that it was tired. And whatever was wrong with the other Zygarde…it wasn't giving up. It would keep going until it won. Until Squishy was hurt to the point it couldn't defend itself anymore. Of that, Bonnie was sure.

Bonnie wanted to come to Squishy's aid, but buildings were being knocked down left and right, and there were more vines right there than anywhere else in the city. All she could do was support Squishy…and hope that would be enough. She wiped her eyes, unsure when she had started crying for Squishy. She blinked and looked up, though the dust in the air didn't do much to clear her gaze. But as she looked, she saw a massive hole in Prism Tower, and a man standing in it with a bunch of equipment that hadn't been there when Clemont had left it, she was sure.

A crash sounded and Bonnie's eyes were drawn back to the destruction that was Zygarde's battlefield. A number of vines, more than Bonnie could bother to count, had come down on Squishy all at once, and just like that, there was no out.

" _Squishy_!" Bonnie screamed. It felt like her throat was shredding as her voice ripped out of her, desperate for Squishy's safety. But Squishy was down, and Bonnie was certain that it wouldn't hear her.

With realization, Bonnie tore her eyes from Squishy and back to the tower. The tip of the large machine began to glow, rising to the same color of that blood-red Zygarde, and Bonnie knew what was about to happen.

And no one could stop it.

* * *

Diantha was close to Prism Tower when she saw a red laser beam shooting from its center to the ground. As that was happening, Zygarde began ascending the tower.

She'd seen the destruction. She'd seen the buildings being taken down and the vines flying. Pokémon Attacks had been sparking, and that Zygarde was definitely responsible for half of it. But she hadn't been able to see what its enemy had been.

And she suspected that whatever it was, it had something to do with that laser.

All she could hope for was that whatever it was had tired out Zygarde. Because she was afraid that, otherwise, she didn't stand a chance.

But she needed to see exactly what was going on with that ray. She'd need a better look.

"Gardevoir." Diantha released Gardevoir from her PokéBall and took hold of her hand, indicative of only one thing. With the other hand, Diantha pointed to the top of a nearby building that had thus far been nearly untouched by the attacks. "There."

Usually, Diantha and Gardevoir didn't even need words to communicate, but in a time like this when there was so much around to interrupt their connection, she didn't want to leave anything up to chance. So, in clear understanding, Gardevoir closed her eyes and the next moment, she and Diantha were teleported to the top of the building Diantha had indicated. From there, Diantha could see the ravaged center of the city where a battle had raged between two of the region's titans.

Zygarde versus Zygarde.

As she watched the fallen Zygarde shaking under the pressure of the laser beam, she knew that either it was going to be permanently defeated…or it was going to be a second enemy.

There was no time to waste. She had to do what she could to the red Zygarde before the other one turned.

"Shadow Ball."

Gardevoir began creating a giant sphere of dark energy in her hands—big enough that it would make quite an impact, even on a Pokémon of that Zygarde's size. Enough to make it angry.

Enough to turn its attention on her.

Once the sphere was at the greatest size that Gardevoir could control, it shot through the air like the largest of cannon balls, and smashed into Zygarde, right where a shoulder might be imagined on the beast.

With a furious screech, the Pokémon turned from the tower and came charging through the air, straight at Diantha and Gardevoir. For a moment, Diantha was shocked to see a serpentine Pokémon able to glide through the air with the ease of the most capable Flying Pokémon, but shock was a thing that she couldn't afford. She abruptly grabbed Gardevoir's hand again and said, "Ground."

Lumiose City was not a place meant to support impromptu Battles in the street with Pokémon of any size, much less that of a crazed Legendary and her Gardevoir. But at the very least, Diantha figured that the street would offer a little less imminent danger than the roofs would.

But as Zygarde came crashing into the building she'd just been standing on and its top floors came crumbling to the ground in a rough dust, Diantha realized just what calamity she'd walked into. And that she'd take part in orchestrating.

In saving, she would have to destroy. In destroying, she would have to save.

In Diantha's broad and incomplete studies of Zygarde, she'd learned one fact that rose above the rest. One that she would be able to use at her disposal.

Experts' best guesses were that Zygarde was a Dragon Type. Diantha stood tall.

"Gardevoir, Moonblast."

* * *

Alain had battled Ash once that day. It had been a close thing, but he and Charizard had managed to pull it off. He'd never expected the win, but at the same time, he'd never expected to lose either. He'd trained extremely hard for that moment; he'd even battled Malva of the Elite Four. So when he won, he wasn't astonished, just very rewarded.

Now, against Ash again, he was losing.

It was a completely different match. Alain knew that Lysandre wasn't controlling Ash and Greninja's battling choices—he still could see shreds of Ash's technique—but whatever he'd done had made Ash and Greninja much more ruthless and wild. Nothing would stop them.

"Charizard, use Thunder Pu—no, dodge!"

Ash and Greninja weren't communicating verbally. Alain knew that Ash and Greninja had a deeper connection when Greninja became Ash-Greninja, but they still battled traditionally. Not this time. Alain didn't know if Ash never needed to and only did it as a formality or if Lysander's device had strengthened their bond in that way. But he didn't have time to think about that.

"Charizard, duck!"

Greninja was flying toward the both of them, Water Shuriken in hand. It threw Alain off. He'd expected Greninja to throw the Water Shuriken, but he was coming toward them like it was a short-range weapon. And on the ledge, like they were, there was nowhere to go.

Charizard obeyed Alain's command and flattened itself to the ground, while Alain had to press himself against the wall as Greninja blew past them. For a moment, it looked as though Greninja was going to run right off the edge, and Alain's heart caught in his throat. If Ash woke up from the mind control to find out that happened to Greninja…Alain couldn't imagine what would happen.

Luckily, at the last moment, Greninja jumped backwards and landed solidly at the ledge, only to immediately turn around and whip the Water Shuriken into Charizard.

Exhausted, Charizard didn't have the agility to dodge, and the Attack hit squarely in its back. Charizard screamed out, and Alain instinctively checked its tail flame.

It was low. Dangerously low.

"Feeling a little uneasy, Alain? Regretting some choices, perhaps?"

Alain couldn't let Lysandre get back in his head. Not now. This moment was too precarious as it was. He had to think about his other Pokémon. They'd been fainted earlier in the day, but surely they'd healed somewhat in their PokéBalls. Maybe Weavile or Unfezant would be strong on the windy ledge.

Ash didn't give him time to think about it. Greninja used Cut while Charizard was still on the ground—a maneuver Ash never would have done. It wasn't right to attack a Pokémon that was already down.

That time, Charizard let out nothing more than a whimper, and Alain knew that if he'd gotten the chance to Mega-Evolve, this would have been the moment that Charizard would have dissolved out of it. But they'd never even gotten that far.

Alain grabbed for Charizard and Weavile's PokéBalls, hoping that he'd be able to pull off a quick switch before Ash attacked again. But before he could so much as raise Charizard's name to his mouth, another Charizard swept in and slashed Greninja with a glowing wing, stopping it in its tracks. Alain could even see a modicum of surprise on Ash's otherwise slack face.

"Ash! What the hell?"

The Charizard landed on the ledge with a wake of wind that caused Alain to crouch down to keep from being blown off. On its back was a girl with fiery orange hair and bright pink cheeks. Every part of her looked windblown. She shakily hopped off of the Charizard's back and Alain could see that it was taking a great deal of effort to get her legs under her. Not a regular flier.

As Alain took her in, he couldn't help but notice Ash's Pikachu above begin yelling again, shouting: "Pikachu pi! Pikachu pi!"

The girl, too, looked up and a smile briefly broke across her face. "Hi, Pikachu!"

But then she turned back to Ash and was all business.

"Ash, what are you doing? Stop!"

However, Ash and Greninja had locked onto their new enemy, and the new Charizard received a Water Shuriken right to the chest.

Or it would have, if it had been Alain's Charizard. But this one was fresh, and evaporated the water with a Flamethrower before it could so much as splash them.

"He's being mind-controlled or something!" Alain shouted as the girl tried uselessly to talk to Ash. "I don't think he can hear you!"

"Oh, he'll hear me!" she shouted back. She spared him a look as her Charizard deflected another of Greninja's Attacks. A flash of recognition hit her features before her eyes turned to his felled Charizard. "Call back your Pokémon; it's exhausted."

Alain didn't have to be told twice. He didn't know who this girl was, or how she seemed to know Ash, but he knew that it wasn't safe for his Charizard to be outside of its 'Ball any longer. He wasn't prideful enough to fight that.

"No, he won't."

If Lysandre was shaken by the girl's appearance, he didn't show it. His voice, booming even over all the wind, was still confident, and why wouldn't it be? He'd barely lifted a finger, and he was still winning. One could see it in the grin still etched on his face.

"He can't hear you, and you know what's more? He doesn't care." Lysandre's eyes were cold. "He wouldn't care if you fell off this ledge right now, girlie."

She didn't miss a beat. "Then you underestimate Ash."

The girl suddenly brandished a new PokéBall and kissed it.

"Misty calls Gyarados!"

So, the girl's name was Misty.

* * *

Charlene could hear the wail of sirens in the distance—the ambulance would be there shortly. As it was, she was leaning over Olympia, double-checking every few moments that she was still stable. Her pulse was high, her breathing heavy. It was like she had passed out after running a race. And her eyelids were fluttering as though she was in deep REM sleep. But Charlene didn't have any medical training and didn't know what any of that might mean.

Then Olympia's eyes fluttered open. "Charlene?" The sound came out as a whisper, barely carrying any tone. Charlene might not have caught it at all, were she not able to read her own name on the woman's lips.

"Lady Olympia, I'm here," Charlene said, grasping Olympia's sweaty hand. "How do you feel?"

Olympia made a noise halfway between a groan and a hum, closing her eyes and putting a hand to her head. "Charlene, the sundial."

Just then, there was commotion at the door. Two stretchers were brought in, pushed by Chansey, with a few humans following. Charlene heard some of her fellow psychics directing them on where to go.

"Wait!" Charlene shouted, wanting them just to give her a moment longer with Olympia. "Lady Olympia, what were you saying?"

"Ma'am," a paramedic began saying as he made his way to them, "we need to test this woman's vitals. It's not normal for a person to be unconscious for minutes on end and we need to see if anything's wrong."

"Just a second!" Charlene shouted. "Olympia, please?"

"The sundial, Charlene," Olympia repeated as she was lifted onto the stretcher, her two Meowstic onto the other. "It contains much power. More than we know. Should it become uncontained or combine with other energy…"

Charlene was walking alongside the stretcher as they took her out of the Gym. "What is it, Lady Olympia?"

Olympia's eyes began to glow again, and her body began to rise from the table. The paramedics reacted quickly and roughly, restraining her.

"Protect the sundial! I beg of you! Promise me!"

"Lady Olympia?"

"Promise me!"

Charlene was pushed back as Olympia was lifted into the ambulance. She wasn't sure if Olympia could really hear her like this, but nevertheless, she screamed, "I promise!"

* * *

In moments, Clemont had gone from having a whole team around him with a common goal to being alone with two girls snarling at him.

"Not so brave when you're all alone, are you?"

"Your friends have all left you."

"But ours are right inside."

"Oh, inside where, again, Bryony?"

"Why, Prism Tower!"

"Hey, kid, didn't that use to be your Gym?"

"You know, Aliana, I think it was!"

Clemont grit his teeth. They were just trying to rile him up. But he could ignore them. If he tuned them out, then he could figure out what to do. They were right, though; he didn't have that much time. If someone came out of the Lumiose Gym, they'd probably try and take him out to save Bryony and Aliana. And how would he fight back then?

He closed his eyes. He needed to think like Ash. Ash never let the pressure get to him, and, for all his attention issues, was always able to key in on a laser sharp answer in a jam.

No Bryony and Aliana. No Team Flare. No impending apocalypse. Just a simple plan for keeping two humans from attacking or being able to call on others to attack.

If he could make a device right now, he'd probably just whip out a cage, but unfortunately, even Clemont hadn't planned that they'd ever be in this type of situation. He didn't have any gadgets on the ready, and he certainly didn't have time to construct one. He'd have to come up with something a little less elegant.

And something did come to mind.

But it was something that he absolutely didn't want to do. He had a feeling Ash wouldn't stand for it either. But as he emptied his mind of all distractions…it really was the only thing he could think of.

Clemont opened his eyes and looked at Chespin. He couldn't leave it alone out here to have the sole responsibility of keeping Bryony and Aliana captured. They would have to be able to leave knowing that the Flare girls couldn't possibly move.

"I've never seen someone just standing in the middle of a city being destroyed," a voice said, making Clemont whip around so fast that his glasses almost fell off. "Then again, I guess I haven't seen that many cities destroyed either. Sorry, ladies."

When Clemont readjusted his glasses, he saw who was addressing him. Malva, of the Elite Four. He shouldn't have been too surprised that she was in Lumiose—everyone knew she was covering the League, after all. She had for years. But her nonchalant tone of voice as she sauntered right past Clemont and over to the Flare girls was shocking. Perhaps it was a part of her newscaster persona?

But wait. She had just apologized to the girls. For what?

He didn't have to wait long to see Malva hike up the rocks Blaziken had placed, her stretch pants not restricting her motion at all as she made it to the top and pulled out some rope.

"Can you get your little pool noodle out of the way, kid? I'm trying to work here."

Usually, Clemont would have defended his Aipom Arm—one of his proudest inventions—but he was still astonished at the turn of events. Malva began tying the rope around Byrony and Aliana's arms—or at least that's what it looked like; Clemont couldn't see through the rocks, after all—the girls whining the whole time.

"Malva, what the fuck?"

"Why are you doing this to us?"

"Whose side are you on, anyway?"

Malva was unperturbed. She grabbed Byrony by the cheeks and hissed, "I should have brought some duct tape for your mouth."

"Wait, Malva, do these girls know y—"

"My relation to Team Flare is of none of your concern, shorty," Malva said, hopping off of the pile of rocks. A vine snapped through the pavement a few meters away, and she didn't even flinch. "You should just accept my help and not ask stupid questions. Now what are you gonna do about these two?"

"M-Me?" Clemont stared at Malva, but she was just staring down her nose at him looking, of all things, bored. "Well, uh, I was just trying to think about, um…a plan. I guess. Kinda."

"Well, what was it?"

Clemont shifted around anxiously. He couldn't do it. It wasn't the right thing to do. The girls were basically caged in, with stones that no human could lift. They were tied up and no one, at the moment, knew of their condition.

Yeah, he wasn't even fooling himself.

"Come on. You're an Electric Trainer, right? The Lumiose Gym Leader?"

Clemont started. She knew who he was? Against everything that was going on, Clemont felt a little swell of pride bloom in his chest to know that an Elite knew him.

Malva, of course, ignored the little moment Clemont was having and egged him on. She looked over at his Pokémon. "Surely, they can do something about this?"

"I, uh, I'm just not sure that's a good…"

"Idea?" Malva shook her head. "Let me put it this way. You're an Electric Trainer. I'm Fire. If you don't do something, I'm gonna have to do something far worse. Your choice."

She was goading him. She looked down at him, confident as hell even in the center of the chaos, and brought a 'Ball to her hand, daring him to chance that she wouldn't do it.

Clemont bit his lip, looking back at his Pokémon. He returned Chespin, who had kept its Vine Whip up even as Malva tied up Aliana. He didn't want it to see this.

With a sigh, knowing that this was his only choice, Clemont said, "Luxray, use Thunder Wave…on them."

Luxray noted its Trainer's hesitation and paused for a moment, giving Clemont the option to change his mind. However, Clemont had already shut his eyes, and was just waiting for the horrible moment to be over.

He was a Gym Leader. It was his responsibility, even more so than for normal Trainers, to use his Pokémon responsibly. That meant _never_ using a move on a human, especially one that could be damaging. That included paralysis. Paralyzing moves were completely non-damaging in the long term for Pokémon, but results were relatively unknown for humans.

Clemont tried to rein in his scientific mind from thinking of all of the possible neurological consequences of paralyzing a human, and instead, quietly shut it off. He heard the brief zap of the Attack, a few shrieks from Byrony and Aliana, and then nothing but the sounds of Lumiose, still being ripped apart. After all, their vocal chords couldn't move any more than their limbs.

Wordlessly, Clemont returned Luxray. Then he turned to Malva, who was looking, of all things, slightly impressed. She was obviously surprised that he'd been able to go through with it.

"So, you know something about Team Flare," Clemont said finally, not wanting to push his suspicions of Malva further than that statement. "What can I expect in the tower?"

Lucky for him, Malva didn't beat around the bush. "Some low-level grunts. Not to worry; they're better scientists than they are Trainers. They shouldn't be difficult to defeat."

"Alright."

Clemont supposed that was the best news he could have hoped for. Enemies, but not particularly strong enemies. His Pokémon were pretty worn out, but they weren't wiped yet. And if he could take out opponents using one Pokémon at a time, then they'd be able to rest intermittent—

"But Xerosic is definitely in there too," Malva continued, interrupting Clemont's thought process. "Don't underestimate him."

That was worse news. "Okay. Uh, thanks, Malva."

Malva waved it off. "Whatever."

She was about to turn away, but Clemont had one more thing on his mind.

"Malva? Do you think my Gym is, uh…"

"Totally destroyed?" She shrugged. "No idea, kid."

"And my robot, Clembot! It's in there. Is there any possibility that it's okay?"

Malva shook her head. "Honestly, kid, I don't give a shit about your robot. Sure, it might be okay. But right now, the world is very possibly ending. Keep that in mind, and push through."

Clemont gulped. "R-Right."

Then, Malva moved to leave. At that moment, Clemont wondered why Malva had come to the base of Prism Tower if she wasn't going in, like him, but he figured it was best not to ask. If she hadn't said already, she probably wouldn't tell him anyhow.

As Clemont began steeling himself to enter his Gym, he heard Malva say one last thing.

"Here." Clemont saw her toss something over her shoulder. He scrambled to catch it—it dropped through his fingers a few times before he got a good hold on it. "An Elite always has some Full Restores."

* * *

"I count three Team Flare grunts," Professor Sycamore said as they lurked at the edge of the forest. "We should be able to take them out no problem, but it's a matter of how to do it conspicuously."

The camera had been turned off shortly after Serena's interview, and the news crew had landed the helicopter in a grassy patch of the forest near Lysandre Labs. Professor Sycamore had suggested they come up to the lab on foot so as to maintain some element of surprise. The news crew had taken off again, saying that they needed to go back to Lumiose and follow the story. That left Serena, Mairin, and Professor Sycamore to create a plan of attack.

"I wish we had a way to heal our Pokémon before having to battle again," Serena said, nervously fingering Braixen's PokéBall. She knew her Pokémon could still Battle, but she didn't know how much longer they could keep it up. "But I guess we'll just have to be tactical."

"Professor," Mairin started, "do you have a Pokémon that knows Hypnosis or Sleep Powder or something?"

Mairin seemed to be doing better now that they were on the mission of finding Chespie. Serena imagined that being away from the chaos and destruction of Lumiose was also calming—it was helping her a bit, anyhow.

Professor Sycamore shook his head. "Unfortunately, for the conference I only brought Garchomp. If only I had known…"

"There was no way to know, Professor. Now we're all just doing the best we can," Serena said. "I wonder if Braixen could create a ring of fire around them to limit what they're able to do? And then maybe Garchomp could do something to help try to put the fire out or keep it under control or something?"

"Too potentially dangerous. What we should do is find a way to lure them into releasing their Pokémon without letting them know that we're—"

Just then there was a large impact, and the earth rattled. The Team Flare personnel reacted immediately, calling out their Pokémon. A Sneasel and two Houndoom.

"Like that?" Mairin asked sarcastically.

"Psychic!" Serena heard the mystery assailant call out. She was shocked when she noticed the telltale glow of a Psychic Attack begin to outline not just the three Pokémon, but the Flare agents as well.

The Pokémon and their Trainers went flying past Lysandre Labs and toward the cliff wall beyond. A silver streak followed in their wake and Serena heard the distinct sound of rocks crashing. She flinched.

"Steven!" Mairin gasped.

"Steven?"

"Steven Stone," Professor Sycamore clarified, as he began walking, then running out of the forest and toward the cliffside and Serena and Mairin had no choice but to follow. As they ran past the trees, they soon saw the Flare agents and their Pokémon imbedded in the rock and the man who must have been Steven Stone standing on a large, hovering Pokémon.

The first thought Serena had was that this man was ruthless. If her eyes didn't deceive her, it looked for all the world as though he had slammed those agents straight into the cliff and somehow wrapped more rock around them so there was no chance of them getting loose.

The professor didn't seem nearly as alarmed.

"Steven!"

"Professor!" Steven called out, almost cheerily as he hopped off his Pokémon. "Mairin! I'm so glad you're here."

"We're glad _you're_ here," Professor Sycamore emphasized. "Having the Hoenn Champion on our side will be an incredible asset."

So he was the Hoenn Champion. That explained why Professor Sycamore knew the name, but he and Mairin seemed to know Steven personally as well.

"When I saw Lysandre's proclamation, I knew that I had to come here before going to Lumiose. I'm glad to see you guys safe." He turned to the girls. "Mairin, are you here for Chespie?"

Mairin nodded, looking a great deal more resolved than she had even a half-hour ago. "That's right."

"How could you attack those people like that?" Serena blurted out. She didn't mean to, but she didn't know how Professor Sycamore and Mairin, of all people, could talk to him like they hadn't just witnessed the same thing she had.

If Steven felt any shame or embarrassment at being called out, he didn't show it. Instead, he turned to Serena and asked, "What's your name?"

"Serena."

"Serena," Steven echoed. "Do you know what a Champion is above all?"

She didn't. Of course, she had met Diantha personally, but she didn't know much about the actual Champion job title. Certainly it wasn't being an actress.

"The Commander-In-Chief. The strongest aid to the military. That's my job."

Serena didn't know exactly what kind of explanation that was, nor what to follow it up with. But she didn't get the chance to find out more, because before she knew it, she heard someone call out "Icy Wind!"

"Metagross, Protect!"

Steven's Metagross leapt in front of the group and a big barrier formed in front of them, displacing the winter wind all around them. From out of the woods, one of the Team Flare girls revealed herself and her Weavile.

"You idiots thought we wouldn't notice your loud-ass helicopter?"

* * *

For a moment, Meyer thought he understood his little girl's terror.

The ray had finally turned off, and Meyer couldn't quite tell what state the Zygarde that Bonnie called Squishy was in. It was flat on the ground, not moving at all. But worse than that, it was red. Like the other Zygarde.

It was an ominous scene. He was watching the birth of a villain as he stood on the earth that had been ravaged by its predecessor. The remnants of buildings and still-waving vines were surrounding him, making it impossible to spot his daughter.

He was looking for a spot of yellow. Against all the gray of the buildings and brown of the bits of earth under Zygarde's control, he figured it was the best way to narrow his sights. A lemon drop against the concrete jungle.

He heard her before he saw her.

"No! No, no, no, no!"

And then he realized that whatever horror he saw in the scene they'd found themselves in was vastly different from what Bonnie was seeing.

Bonnie was running again, jumping over the rubble and debris as she headed straight towards Squishy. Even as the strong Trainer he was, even with Mega-Evolution and a superhero persona, he knew that he would have been running the other direction, at least to regroup and come back with a plan.

But this was his daughter. For her, he ran.

He hadn't made it very far when he heard a low grumble building, making the ground vibrate. Then, it turned into a shriek as Squishy all at once stood up, and screamed to the sky.

As that wave of sound clawed through the hazy air, Meyer heard Bonnie cry, "No, Squishy, no!"

But even as her words came out, Squishy's eyes flashed, and suddenly dozens more vines pierced through the ground, sending dirt and concrete into the air in shards. The vines began flailing, each like a snake bobbing in the air before striking its foe. Meyer threw an arm up to his face, but kept running, dodging the vines and praying that one wouldn't fly up in front of him.

Then he had her. He wrapped an arm around her middle and pulled her into his body. She shrieked in his ear and began shouting, "Let me go! Get off of me!"

"Bonnie, it's me! Calm down!"

Upon realizing that it was her father grabbing her, not a vine, she froze. Momentarily. Then she began pulling at his arm again.

"Daddy, let me go! Squishy needs me!"

"Bonnie, no, it is a warzone over here. I need to get you to safety."

He began trying to pull Bonnie away, but she slipped out from under his arm and started running, faster than before. Meyer didn't know what came over him. He felt white-hot as he roared her name and threw his body forward. It only took a couple seconds to grasp her again, holding her closer than before so she could hardly struggle. One arm was around her middle and the other had her legs so that this time she couldn't slip away.

"Bonnie, Squishy will be fine! It's powerful and look, it's not fighting the other Zygarde anymore. It'll be okay. What's important is that you're safe."

"You don't understand!" Bonnie cried as she kept trying to kick. Meyer didn't know if she was trying to wriggle out of his grasp or if she actually wanted to kick him. But either way, she was trying to get away from him. Even in the midst of the chaos, that broke his heart a little bit. "Squishy isn't okay! It doesn't want this! I have to do something!"

"There's nothing you can do in this condition," Meyer tried to quietly explain, feeling the rasp in his voice from all the shouting. "We need a way to deactivate that beam that was used on it, and Clemont is doing that right now. He's in Prism Tower as we speak. Okay, Bonnie? It'll be okay."

She obviously didn't believe him. But she'd stopped wiggling, and that was progress, at least. Meyer was surprised when he felt a little tickle on his arm, and then another one. He looked over his daughter's shoulder and saw a couple wet spots sliding down his forearm.

"Bonnie, are you crying?"

He could feel better than see her head shaking no, but even as she did so, she was sniffling.

"Don't worry, Bonnie. We'll do everything that we can, but it's so important that you stay safe. You understand, right?"

She didn't say anything. Instead, she turned her head away from him as best she could and continued sniffling.

She didn't want to cry in front of him. His own daughter didn't want his comfort, even when they very well could be in the midst of the end of civilization as they knew it.

He'd failed. As a father, he had failed. He'd left his children on their own too much and assumed that it wouldn't create a distance between them.

And now it might be too late to undo any of that.

All he could do was murmur into her neck, "I'm so sorry, Bonnie. So, so sorry."

A vine then swept right over their heads and Meyer curled Bonnie even tighter against him as they shrank to the ground. Bonnie gave a little whimper, but otherwise said nothing.

"We've got to get out of here now."

Meyer was relieved to hear no argument this time from Bonnie as he cautiously stood up and began trying to scope out the safest path out of the destruction. He lifted Bonnie so that her legs were wrapped around his waist, arms threaded around his neck. She was nearly limp in his arms, as though she was totally worn out. Or didn't care.

They'd managed a few steps as Meyer tried to sort out how best to carry both of their weight while trying to navigate the unsteady ground they were on. He'd barely moved a few meters when Bonnie screamed again, high and right in his ear.

His ear was ringing as he whipped around to see what Bonnie had reacted to. It was obvious. Not very far away were two figures, human and Pokémon, attacking one of the Zygarde. Squishy.

"They can't!" Bonnie shrieked.

He had his daughter. She wasn't trying to jump to the ground—she was safe in his arms. He should run and figure out what the smartest next move was in this nightmare.

But he didn't.

Meyer steeled himself, knowing that there would be no turning back from this decision, and it could very well end in his death. But as Bonnie's father, he had to do it. It was the one thing in the world she needed from him, and dammit if he wasn't going to do everything he could.

He put Bonnie on the ground, his heart tight as he took stock of all the new vines that had taken over the area.

"Stay here," he ordered, looking at her as sternly as he could. "Only move if you need to jump away from a vine. But don't follow me."

Bonnie looked up at him with her huge baby blues. Just like Clemont's. Just like their mother's. She gave an unsteady nod.

Then, just like his daughter had a few minutes before, he ran.

As he got closer to the scene, he realized that the person directing the Attacks on Squishy was none other than the Champion herself, Diantha. He was glad to see her—she was their best chance at defeating this.

"Diantha!" he started shouting once he got close enough that he thought there was even a possibility that she'd hear him. "Diantha, stop!"

He had to yell a few more times before she actually heard him over the sounds of the Battle and the earth cracking around them from the vines. Gardevoir had just been batted through the air by Squishy, but managed to use Teleport before hitting the ground. She landed safely by Diantha, waiting for her next instruction.

"Use Double Team and evade," she said, her voice tense. Then she turned to Meyer, who had just about made it over to her. "I hope you know you could cost me a life or death Battle right now." Then she looked him up and down and cocked her head. "Blaziken Mask?"

"Yes, I am and I know," Meyer said, catching his breath as fast as he could and spitting out the words rapid speed. "I'm Blaziken Mask and father to Clemont, the leader of the Lumiose Gym and a little girl named Bonnie. Please listen when I say you have to stop battling that Zygarde."

Diantha's disbelief was enough to make Meyer question his choice again. The woman had strong facial expressions—must have been an actor thing—and he could read every ounce of disbelief on her face. Something in the tension under her eyes told him that she thought he was an idiot, even if she was the type never to say it aloud.

"You know I can't do that. It's a threat to Kalos."

They both looked back at the Battle as Squishy systematically took out each of Gardevoir's duplicates; they were running out of stall time.

"Right. I understand that, believe me. I'm just saying, please leave this one alone and go after the other one."

One trim eyebrow lifted up. An opening to make his case.

"Why?"

"Well…" He faltered. He hated it. He hated that this was the choice the world was forcing him to make in his moment. "I suppose we'll be dealing with this one."

"Who's we?"

"Me and…my daughter."

* * *

Misty's jaw hurt.

Her body had been rife with tension since she'd left Cerulean and now it all accumulated into two throbbing pulses at both corners of her jaw bone. She was probably grinding her teeth down to nubs.

It was hard to battle up there. Misty was a good battler and she knew it, but she'd spent too long cozy, training in her Gym. Now she was on a rooftop where the furthest one had to fall wasn't into a pool of water, but hundreds of feet down to ravaged pavement. The wind was furious at this height; Misty had no idea how Ash's hat was staying on. She had to be so careful with her Attacks. Gyarados couldn't do anything that might knock Greninja off the edge.

But she couldn't go easy on Ash. Because he wasn't going easy on her.

She had to hit wide and fast. Something that Greninja couldn't avoid. But those took a lot of strength, and godly endurance to keep up. Fortunately, her Gyarados had that. But it wouldn't forever.

"Gyarados, Hydro Pump!"

The Attack burst down the ledge, leaving little room to dodge. Gyarados, along with Misty, was learning to use the space and shot the pressurized jet of water forward, and then angled it up so that it didn't knock Ash off the edge and also so Greninja couldn't jump up to avoid it.

It didn't hit squarely, but it did knock Greninja back a good bit. She had to work fast to keep her momentum before Greninja could strike back.

"Hyper Beam!"

"What are you doing?" Misty heard Alain call behind her. "That'll leave you vulnerable!"

Misty didn't know that guy. She knew he was a strong battler, and Ash seemed to respect him, but she didn't know what he had done to end up on this ledge. And aside from his fainted Pokémon, she wasn't sure why he wasn't helping more. And in her frustration and painful fear she was growing irritated with him.

She snapped, "Why don't you make yourself useful and try and free Ash's Pokémon‽"

One glance backward was all she could spare, but she saw obvious shock on Alain's face. Maybe he wasn't used to people talking to him like that, maybe he was bothered he hadn't thought of that first. Misty heard Pikachu shout its support as well as some cries from Ash's other Pokémon.

When Misty turned back, the Hyper Beam had connected with Greninja, albeit barely. It was a graze, but even the edge of a powerful attack could still do fair damage. Especially to a weakened opponent like Greninja. However, the move didn't knock it down. Rather, Greninja took the hit, struggled back to its feet, and then charged at Gyarados with a Cut Attack on the ready. Gyarados was still recharging, so Greninja managed to slash it right along the neck, pulling a great cry out of the Pokémon.

That Hyper Beam should have been it for Greninja. Logic told Misty that it should have been as exhausted as Alain's Charizard had been when she'd swept in—more, since it had actually fainted in the League match. But it was still on its feet, ready to hit Gyarados again with another Cut.

It wasn't normal. It wasn't safe.

"Ash! You can't do this to your Pokémon! Wake up!"

But she saw no recognition. Greninja lunged again, and Gyarados had no choice but to knock it back with a smack of its tail. Misty cringed. She would have to change her technique even more if she wanted to help Greninja out.

"Gyarados, switch to defense! Try not to hurt it!"

As Gyarados waited for the next Attack, Misty heard shouts from either side.

"Pathetic! The lot of you!"

"Weavile, use Night Slash!"

Misty heard the terrible rip of metal behind her and smiled. _There_ was some tangible progress.

"Pathetic, now are we?" Misty asked Lysandre as Ash's Pokémon rallied behind her, squawking and crying in approval.

Even as Misty felt buoyed by the support of Ash's Pokémon—Pokémon who didn't even know her, but seemed to trust her enough to stand behind her—she knew she couldn't let them fight like they probably wanted to. They would exhaust too quickly, and she couldn't put Ash's Pokémon in danger like that.

"Pikapi!"

However, the moment Pikachu tumbled down from its hold, it scurried over to Ash and began crying his name.

"No, Pikachu!"

"Pikapi! Pikapi!"

"He can't hear y—No, Gyarados!"

Gyarados roared in pain as Misty turned back to the Battle. Greninja had struck again and Gyarados must not have dodged in time. But her attention was still split as she watched Pikachu leap past the Battle and over to Ash.

"Gyarados just…keep dodging!"

"Pika!"

Misty's eyes were drawn to were sparks flew from Pikachu's body, enveloping Ash as his limbs writhed in pain. Pikachu was trying to shock Ash back into himself, like she'd seen time and time again.

"Pika!"

Out of the corner of Misty's eye, she noticed that Greninja had halted. For a second, she thought that maybe the shocks were halting whatever the Ash-Greninja connection was, but then she saw its body was straining too. It was more subtle, but its chest was flying out and collapsing in with every shock.

"Pika!"

"Pikachu, stop!"

Pikachu looked back at Misty and shook his head, crying out a few phrases. Then another shock. "Pika!"

"No, Pikachu, you're hurting Greninja too!"

That gave Pikachu a little more pause. He looked away from his Trainer and to his friend, Greninja. He blinked a couple of times and seemed to talk himself out of his mania, running back to Misty and jumping into her arms. Misty was relieved to hold him, but he turned his head back, ears flattened as he looked at Ash.

"Pikapi…" he whined.

"I know. We'll get him back."

She held Pikachu tight. They would get him back. This wasn't the end of their story.

* * *

All James had to do to find Lumiose City again was to spot the dark haze in the sky and head that direction. He didn't know if he had simply forgotten how much smoke was in the air already, or if that much more of the city had collapsed or caught on fire in their absence.

"As we fly back towards Lumiose City, we can get another view of the massive impact of this attack," Jessie reported as Meowth pointed the camera towards the dark smudge in the distance. It was slowly beginning to gain the shape of the familiar spoked circle that made up the city. "From the air, we can see the sheer concentration of smoke and we advise anyone in the affected area to do whatever they can to stay out of that air, as it is probably toxic and carcinogenic. We repeat requests to evacuate if at all possible."

"Wait, Jessie, do you see that?"

In his focus on aiming the helicopter towards Lumiose, James had blacked the rest of the landscape out of his vision. He wasn't a professional pilot, after all, and wanted to stay focused. But he suddenly noticed a wavering in the landscape around the city.

"Meowth, zoom in on the ground."

James could only glance at it for moments at a time before turning his gaze back to his steering, but the site was unmistakable. When Jessie began speaking again, he noticed her voice was colder—colder than even talk of toxic air and evacuations could bring.

"Citizens of the world, we bring you an update." She paused. James didn't know if she was swallowing or taking a breath or trying to figure out how best to break the news. "The vines have spread past the bounds of Lumiose City and are growing at an accelerated rate. If you live anywhere around the outskirts of Lumiose, evacuate immediately. As for the neighboring cities of Courmaline, Camphrier, Santalune, Dendemille, and Laverre…"

Another pause. Perhaps she was looking out the window. But then it wasn't her voice that he heard, it was Meowth's.

"Uh, Jess? Da camera just died."


	4. Turning

_Four days earlier._

"Human nature is where we went wrong," Lysandre said as he and Malva looked over the scientists monitoring the Mega-Evolution energy. Malva just nodded along, knowing that Lysandre didn't seek her affirmation or, God forbid, additions in his monologue.

"This I've known for a long time. Humans are greedy. Selfish. A world that could easily hold all of us is pushed to its brink time and time again because humans take more than their fair share."

This, Malva already knew. Despite her own greed, which she was willing to admit to, she agreed with Lysandre. Humans fucking sucked and needed a real slap in the face to realize that they were the chaos of this world, not the order.

"I've also known for a long time that we need to start over. All over. Fresh. But the problem has been that nothing has changed. I'm not naïve enough to think that my word, my teachings will change human nature. We need something much stronger, something that could reshape mankind."

"You don't think a war could do that?"

"It's a mass genocide, Malva. No need to be coy about it."

See, Malva wasn't quite sure about that. His plan was a slow burn. People would have the time to fight back. People would die, which left a bitter taste in her mouth, but they would have a chance. And there would be survivors. They'd just be pulled over to Lysandre's side. His side was imperfect, of course, but Malva knew it was the side she wanted to be on. She wanted to be a part of the new world, after all. She wasn't going to be…what was the word Xerosic had been using? _Expunged_.

"And no. We've had war and it just makes the winners think that they deserved everything all along. What we need is that boy."

Now Malva was no longer following. "That boy? Who?"

"The one with the Greninja."

"Oh, you mean Ash Ketchum."

She was a reporter. Of course she knew his name. She also knew where he was from, all the Pokémon on his team, and his age. And the public had been eating up her reporting on his unique Greninja. _That_ was viral material.

"That's the one. Using him, we can change the foundation of ideology and human nature. Ash has reached a higher plane with his Greninja. They have merged in a strictly mutualistic, symbiotic relationship where both benefit from each others' strength. They have reached enlightenment through selflessness and compassion for one another. He will be the God of our new religion. If the religions of Arceus and Mew are remembered, they will crumble when their followers see how their gods abandoned them in this dark time. Ash and Greninja will be all that remain."

"But Zygarde—no matter how special Ash Ketchum is, everyone will see that Zygarde has greater power."

Lysandre, whose face had been stoic for the whole speech, cracked a smile.

"Ah, but Zygarde will be mine."

* * *

_Present day_

"Fuck," Celosia said as the news footage cut out. "It's totally gone. Now how are we supposed to keep an eye on those interlopers?"

"No need, boss. Look."

Celosia pushed a grunt out of the way to get a better view of the computer monitor. The black and white footage immediately told her that it was their own security footage; that was about as live as it got.

She first noticed her sister, Mable, battling with Weavile. It didn't take long to tally up the other players as Professor Sycamore, Mairin, and the girl who'd been on the live footage earlier, the one who'd been hanging around Z1.

"And there's our old friend, Steven."

She watched as Steven's Metagross—barely registering as Shiny in black and white—produced a nasty Meteor Mash just as Weavile was coming in for a Metal Claw.

"Bad time not to have any Dark Type moves on a Weavile, Mable," she commented. She turned to the grunt she'd pushed away. "I warned her about that. Three Ice moves? Seriously?"

Metagross flashed a simple Protect to avoid an Ice Shard and Celosia couldn't help yelling at the screen.

"Switch to your Houndoom, idiot!"

Of course, Mable didn't and Celosia was left rolling her eyes and turning away. She couldn't watch the incompetency any longer.

"Three more of you go out there," she ordered. "It looks like my sister's gonna need some more backup."

* * *

As Clemont walked through the front doors of his Gym, he felt like a stranger. He was in his lobby where there were four elevators. One for freight, one for those to ride straight to the Gym, one for those to view the top, and the private one that led to Clemont's labs. Nothing had been disturbed in this room. There wasn't a hole in the wall, no cracked tiles—no, the evidence was in the air.

Everything felt wrong. He knew that it wasn't logical, but Clemont could feel that his Gym was being used for evil. This place wasn't _his_ anymore. It had been occupied by Team Flare. And it made him feel sick.

If he tried to access his private elevator, would it still recognize his face? Would he even be able to use the public ones?

Well, there was only one way to find out. His battlefield was on the fourth floor, which he knew was the one occupied by the laser. He'd seen that much from outside. That's where he needed to go.

Clemont held his breath as he pressed the button for the elevator. It should have been the most anticlimactic moment ever, but his heart was racing, even more than when they'd been running through town. When the bell tolled and the doors opened, Clemont felt twin emotions of relief and dread. But before he could think about either too much, he stepped inside.

Prism Tower had very quick, modern elevators. Clemont had hardly a moment to collect himself before the doors dinged open again. And when they did, Clemont found himself being yanked out with a hand over his mouth, an arm around his throat, and no way to scream.

* * *

It didn't take long for Ash and Greninja to bounce back from Pikachu's shocks. Within moments, Greninja was leaping back into action, running to Gyarados with a blade ready for Cut. Gyarados took advantage of its long body and let Greninja hit its middle, rolling its body so that Greninja bounced off, leaving them both more or less unscathed. Misty nodded. It was a good strategy.

Lysandre wasn't going to let her be satisfied, though.

"It must be sad to see your Trainer so much more bonded with another Pokémon," he drawled. "Ash's bond with Greninja is so unique. Closer than I've seen between any other relationship in my life, Pokémon or human."

He looked at Misty pointedly as those last words left his lips. He was taunting her—her and Pikachu. Pikachu started to lunge, but Misty held him back against her chest. "He's not worth it," she whispered.

Misty glanced at Alain, who was tending to—or perhaps more accurately in this moment: corralling—Ash's exhausted Pokémon as they too reacted to Lysandre's words. She held Pikachu tighter as she turned back to Ash.

"Ash, come on! Stop this!"

Pikachu and his other Pokémon cried out again, but he didn't even glance their way. Seeing him like that, glowing red and vacant—it was horrifying. Nothing like the Ash she knew.

" _Ash_!"

"Pikapi!"

Misty's shoulders sagged. Alain and Lysandre were right; he wouldn't hear them.

"Alright, enough of this."

Lysandre stepped forward, out of his passive place in the background and began approaching Ash. His face had fresh lines in it, making him look dour and angry. Very, very angry. He whipped two PokéBalls out and hurled them forward, releasing one Pokémon that Misty didn't know the name of and a red Gyarados. Misty stared shocked for a moment. She'd only seen a red Gyarados once before and it hadn't been good.

"Now, Gyarados! Release your Mega-Evolution energy!"

She'd been holding back. With Ash and Greninja it wasn't play, it wasn't a fun challenge where she could and would use every tool in her disposal. And in the position they were in, she didn't want to destroy them. But Lysandre…he had earned her wrath.

Her keystone was in her backpack. She'd put it there for the flight. Hopefully, that was close enough.

"Strong, valiant and powerful! And now, my beautiful blue sweetheart, Mega-Evolve!"

However, just as her Gyarados was ramping up to do just that, imitate the transformation Lysandre's red Gyarados had gone through, Greninja slammed into it, severing their connection.

"Nice try, little girl!" Lysandre shouted. "Gyarados, Hyper Beam!"

Misty balked. In order for a Hyper Beam to hit her Gyarados, it would have to go right through Greninja first…and Ash.

"No!"

"Pikapi!"

"Go, Chandelure!"

Misty's eyes were dazzled as the bright light of the Hyper Beam met the telltale beam of a Pokémon being released from a PokéBall. The move made impact with something and refracted harmlessly, revealing another Pokémon that Misty wasn't familiar with.

"Malva!" Lysandre shouted, fresh rage pulsing through his voice. "What are you thinking?"

She let go of her Talonflame's leg and slid down the slope of Prism Tower's peak, not at all fearful of the raging wind. "Sense, and it's about fucking time. Chandelure, Confuse Ray!"

A dark cloud with bright baubles of light blew over to Gyarados and a feline Pokémon—with a mane not unlike Lysandre's—and smacked into their faces. They both shook their heads, but their eyes were now cross and confounded.

"You are so fucking wrong, Lysandre. I went along with it because I didn't want to be another expendable in your plan, and I can recognize how powerful you are. But you're just a cock-juggling, thunder-cunt of a man who couldn't handle it when the world didn't go quite his way and you've decided to throw a little bitch fit about it when you don't even know what you're doing."

Lysandre's face remained calm. "I know exactly what I'm doing, Malva. You may think you know every detail of my plan and maybe you've found a hole in it, but that's because no leader tells their little goons every bit of the plan. You tell everyone some of it, but none of them all of it."

"You _don't_ know," Malva restated. "You want to replace human selfishness with a god of selflessness? Humans aren't gods, Lysandre. You're gonna wipe out everyone and find yourself in a thousand years with humans who want to have what Ash has and will stop at nothing to get it, just like you. They're gonna have to learn our lessons all over again, because some righteous vaginal douche erased their history."

Misty couldn't help but be sucked in by Malva's speech. She didn't know the exact context for everything being said, but she could fill in the blanks on bits and draw her own conclusions.

"These kids will be able to make the world a better place just by looking at the mistakes of limp chodes like you and refusing to repeat them."

"You know, Malva," Lysandre said, "filthy language is just a crutch for the unintelligent."

"So is destroying a world that still stands a chance at being saved."

Malva looked back at Misty.

"Now get back in there and help your guy before I regret defecting." She glanced at Lysandre like he wasn't even worth her time. "I'll handle this one."

Misty grinned. "You got it."

* * *

Mable's Houndoom didn't last much longer than her Weavile, even with its Type advantages. Serena was amazed to watch a Champion at work—it seemed like nothing could beat him. One last Meteor Mash, and they were all looking at Houndoom on the ground, rolled onto its side, and they knew it wasn't getting up. Mable was in shock.

"Return your Pokémon!" Steven shouted. "It's over!"

Mable shook her head. "I'm not admitting defeat to you, Steven!"

Steven grit his teeth together, his face hard. "Return. Your. Pokémon."

Metagross took a heavy step forward, and Mable cowered. Mega Metagross towered over all of them by multiple feet and had to weigh over a ton. Its presence was intimidating, and Serena would have stepped back too, had it not been battling on her side.

"Fine," Mable agreed, though her face was stiff as she woodenly raised her arm to return her Houndoom into its PokéBall. Then Steven gestured to Metagross.

Like her colleagues before her, Mable went flying via Psychic energy and landed embedded in the cliff face with a defeated scream. Serena still didn't like it, but she knew that Steven didn't either. And that almost made it better somehow.

He nodded, his face already growing softer as the job was done. "Shall we go inside?"

Going in the front door, they half-expected more grunts to come out and battle them, but the corridor was surprisingly empty.

"Okay," Steven said slowly, "do you guys think that you need my help finding Chespie? Because I was hoping to find some of the technology in here and maybe figure out some of what's going on in Lumiose. Maybe even what Team Flare's plan is."

Mairin shook her head. "That's fine, Steven. I think we'll get more done if we split up. Besides, Chespie's my responsibility."

"That settles it. The three of us will look for Chespie, and Steven will explore the lab," Professor Sycamore said.

Everyone seemed to be in agreement, when Serena cut in. "I don't think that's necessary, Professor. I think that Mairin and I should look for Chespie and the two of you explore the lab. I have confidence in my Pokémon that we'll be able to handle whatever we find on the way."

"Are you sure, Serena?" Professor Sycamore asked, looking concerned.

Serena put a fist to her chest. "I'm sure."

She wasn't sure where all her newfound confidence was coming from. Maybe it was all she'd already pushed through that day. Maybe it was that her whole journey with Ash felt like it had culminated to this point, and now was when she had to prove that she had guts and strength that was all her own.

All she really knew, though, was that Mairin was counting on her. And Serena would never let her down.

"Sounds good," Steven said, cutting through the uncertain silence that had fallen. "We're split into pairs. Mairin and I are the ones who know the layout of the lab anyway, so it's a good division of labor. Let's do our best."

"Right," Professor Sycamore agreed, giving Serena one last look, as though checking to see if she would back out. "Let's do it."

* * *

Clemont was metaphorically shitting himself.

He had not planned for this. If Clemont knew one thing—and he did like to think that he knew a lot of things—he knew that he was not physically strong. He wasn't an arms guy or a legs guy or a sprint versus distance guy. He wasn't any of that. His muscles were in place to keep his body upright instead of a tangle of bones and tissue, and that was it.

So, how was he going to get out of this?

His assailant hadn't covered Clemont's eyes, so he could still see. He was being dragged down the hallway slowly. But this hallway didn't have anything except the door to the battlefield and the elevator. Maybe if this person let go of his mouth, he'd be able to reason with them?

No, he was kidding himself. This was Team Flare he was thinking about—the same people who thought soft resetting the world was a good idea.

Maybe he could find this person's knee and kick it? His legs were free after all, so maybe…but, again, relying on his physicality…Was waiting it out a stupid idea? What exactly _would_ he be waiting out? Could he play dead? Didn't some Pokémon do that? If his body went limp…but then his heart rate…and breathing…how long could he hold his breath for? Oh, yeah, he was breathing heavily. No chance pulling that off now. Wow, he was breathing really quickly. And it was really hard with that hand covering his mouth right up to his nose…so he had to breathe harder. Oh, wait, you know what that sounds like? Panicking. Yeah, he was panicking. And…he…couldn't…stop.

They had stopped moving. But Clemont was beginning to sweat and his face felt hot and it was like he'd just had to chase Bonnie and Ash and Serena for…he couldn't even imagine how long. Then he heard a voice in his ear.

"Clemont, calm down. It's just me."

The hand moved away from his mouth and Clemont was gasping. But his breathing was slowing down, his blood pressure relaxing, and his brain quieting.

"Clembot?" he whispered.

"Yes. You were coming into view of the security camera, and I thought it was better if we weren't seen."

Clemont turned around and gave his robot a big hug. "I'm so glad that you're okay, Clembot! I was so worried about you!"

"And I was worried about you. But you tasked me with watching the Gym, so I wanted to keep an eye on it after your father and I saw what was happening on the news."

"That's right!" Clemont exclaimed. "Clembot, have you seen anything important?"

Clembot nodded. "I assume you reached the conclusion that the weapon being used is on this floor in the Battle arena."

"Correct."

"I can also tell you that this is the only floor that is currently occupied. At this time, there should be three people inside the room, all of whom are carrying PokéBalls."

Clemont calculated. One of those people was Xerosic, for sure. The other two were probably just grunts. Malva had said he only needed to worry about Xerosic, so hopefully that was right. Clemont wasn't confident he'd be able to take out three people, even with Clembot on his side.

"The ray that is now residing in that room contains the same energy I register in challengers' Pokémon who Mega-Evolve."

"Mega-Evolution energy," Clemont mused. "That must be what they're using to control Zygarde."

"I have not yet learned how it functions," Clembot said, nodding its head in agreement. "That is all I can tell you."

"Okay. Yes, that was very helpful, Clembot."

The words weren't very emphatic as they came out. Clemont had his hand on his chin and was thinking about something else altogether. Then, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a PokéBall, silently releasing it.

Bunnelby came out and knew enough not to cry out its name. Rather, it cocked its head at Clemont awaiting an order. Clemont whispered, "See those cameras over there?" Clemont pointed to the two that were on either side of the door to the field. "Use Mud Shot on them."

"What are you doing?" Clembot asked as Bunnelby went off to do just that. "That will also alert Team Flare that someone's here."

"Yeah," Clemont said, smiling as Bunnelby fired mud at the first lens. "But they won't know who they're dealing with."

* * *

Diantha didn't understand what was going on with that Blaziken Mask guy. Why did he want to fight a Legendary? Why did his daughter want to? Why was his teeny-tiny, little daughter even _here_?

She pushed the distraction away for a moment and yelled, "Moonblast! And keep it up!"

She'd done as asked. She and Gardevoir had shifted themselves over to the original Zygarde and had refocused their attentions. But every time she glanced over at the other one, she was frustrated to see that a Battle wasn't happening. Here, Gardevoir was putting her all behind every Attack, hitting Zygarde directly with super-effective moves and keeping it from further destroying the city. But the Zygarde that Blaziken Mask was with was still nearly at perfect health. To her eye, they weren't doing anything more than talking to it. Trying to reason with a _mind-controlled Legendary_.

She was annoyed. For a second. But as her current mark dodged another Moonblast and smacked Gardevoir down with a new vine, all she could think was: at least they were keeping it busy.

* * *

"Give it here."

Jessie snatched the camera out of Meowth's hands and began fiddling with it, alternately pressing or holding down all the buttons she could find.

"I've already tried dose, Jess. Da camera's dead fo' sure."

"Damn it," she said, thrusting the camera back towards Meowth. "This was our shot!"

"Still seeking fame, Jessilee?" James asked sarcastically as he continued navigating in the growing smoke of Lumiose.

"I always am, James," Jessie snapped. "But no. We were making an honest difference in this humanitarian disaster. People need to see this."

"So ya wanna make a difference?"

Jessie hesitated, the idea uncomfortable for her. Sure, the Team Rocket trio had defected to the side of good a few times in the past, but they always snapped back to normal quick enough to give those twerps whiplash. But the twerp wasn't around—not directly nearby, at least—for them to bounce off of. They had to make their own choice.

"Yes. Yeah, I wanna make a fucking difference."

"Then we have to land."

James had already changed the direction of the helicopter, probably searching through the smoke for a suitable place to land. Any place suffered the option of leaving the helicopter vulnerable to being ripped in half by vines, but if they landed in one of the city's outer circles, it was less likely. One thing they could notice from the sky was that the density of vines decreased outwards from Prism Tower. But they were spreading faster now.

James managed to land the helicopter next to a vine that had been chopped down in the hopes that it wouldn't begin moving again and that another wouldn't spring up next to it. Wobbuffet had been returned, all pretenses of Meowth's disguise having been dropped. Then, against everything their hardy preservation instincts told them, they began running towards the city center.

"Does anyone need help?" Jessie called, putting her hand up to her mouth.

They were looking around, but the only motion they could spot was that of the vines that were still waving in the air. No people or Pokémon to be seen.

"Is anyone trapped?" James added.

Their breath became short and the calls less frequent as they ran, but they traded off their voices as they zigzagged through the streets. The lack of response and general quiet of the city was chilling. There was still noise of vines smacking into buildings and stone crumbling into the street, but all the ordinary sounds of the city were missing. Cars. Voices. Pokémon. Gone.

One the one hand, it probably meant that a lot of people had escaped already. Although, with the vines now growing outside the city, it begged the question of where people and Pokémon traveling on foot were to go. Jessie hadn't been able to see things as small as humans through the smoke spreading over the city outskirts from the helicopter, so she truly didn't know. But even she knew that it was statistically unlikely that everyone had been able to avoid the vines. So the silence that they were met with wasn't promising.

"Please! We're here to help!"

"Help us!"

The trio stopped in their tracks. It was what they had been waiting for, but it still surprised them. They looked back and forth at each other, checking to see which one of them would move first.

"Help!"

It was a different voice, but still came from the same direction around the corner. This time, Team Rocket followed, looking for the source. When they rounded the bend, they first spotted one of the twerps. Not one of the normal twerps, but one of the Kalosian side-twerps who'd participated in the Kalos League. The big one who danced. It didn't take too long then to notice the twerpette who did Showcases, the little one with the camera, and the one with the notebook. Jessie began to cry out, "Twer—" but James put his hand on her arm to hold her back.

"What can we do to help?" he asked instead.

The side-twerps were split in half on either side of a large slab of mortared stones that appeared to have fallen from the building in front of them. There was also a Pokémon for each of them, a Slaking, Charizard, Blastoise, and Ivysaur. Jessie then realized that she could hear the twittering of Pokémon around them for the first time since they'd landed. But it wasn't coming from the side-twerps' Pokémon. It was coming from under the debris.

"We're trying to lift this wall and save those Pokémon," the side-twerpette said, coughing a little as she spoke.

When the side-twerpette spoke, Jessie looked at her and noticed how much of a wreck she looked. While Jessie was still camera ready—well, she was wearing ugly clothes and her face had gotten a little shiny, but she was still gorgeous—this girl who brought her A game to Pokémon Performances was covered in soot and dirt. Her hair was sticking to her neck at the bottom and scraggly at the top. She was dripping sweat around her hairline. She even had some shallow cuts on her arms and legs. And the boys didn't look any better.

"We'll try and help," Jessie said as she, James, and Meowth split on either side of the stone wall.

The side-twerpette counted off, "One, two, three!" and they all began to lift. But the wall was big, and two humans and a small, feline Pokémon didn't make much of a difference.

"What if we try ta break up da wall by attackin' it?"

Suddenly, all eyes turned to Meowth, as though the side-twerps hadn't noticed him before.

"It's the talking Meowth from Team Rocket!" the side-twerpette shouted, taking an offensive stance. But the redheaded side-twerp next to her put a hand on her shoulder.

"They're helping us. Right now, we're on the same team as anyone who isn't Team Flare." He looked around at the fallen city surrounding them. "We can't afford not to be."

The big side-twerp addressed Team Rocket, "We thought about doing that, but we don't want the Pokémon underneath to get hit by rocks or by whatever Attacks we use to break the wall down."

It was a good point, enough to give Meowth pause. James, however, piped up.

"You lot have a number of Pokémon between you. Does anyone have a Pokémon with a move that could protect these ones?"

It only took a moment for the sleepy-eyed side-twerp to take out a PokéBall. "I have an Aegislash! Its signature move is King's Shield!"

"That's perfect," James said.

Jessie didn't quite know what King's Shield did—she wasn't sure she'd heard of the move before—but the name alone gave her a pretty good idea. The side-twerp released the sword-like Pokémon and cried out, "Aegislash, try to get under the stone slab and prepare to use King's Shield!"

Up close, Aegislash was a huge Pokémon. Even discounting the distance it was hovering off the ground, it was just about as tall as her, but it was incredibly thin. Just thin enough to be able to shimmy in between the thin gap of the stone wall and the other debris on which it lay. When it had made it, James continued to take charge.

"Blastoise should attack with its Hydro Cannon, angling from the bottom of the wall up, so as much of the shrapnel goes up and forward rather than down towards the Pokémon."

"Everyone, stand back," the big side-twerp said.

"Watch out for vines!" the side-twerpette added.

The other side-twerps returned their Pokémon and they, along with Jessie, James and Meowth, stepped back into the street while the big side-twerp stayed a few steps forward.

"You heard what he said, Blastoise," he called out. "Hydro Cannon on those stones!"

At the same time, the sleepy-eyed side-twerp yelled to his Aegislash, "Now!"

As water fired at the stone wall and began tearing it apart, a honeycomb-patterned shield materialized under it, causing the pieces that flew in that direction to bounce off harmlessly.

"Keep it up, Aegislash!"

It didn't take long for the wall to be broken down in small enough pieces of rubble that Blastoise could stop its stream of pressurized water and Aegislash could let its shield fall. The humans all ran over to the spot and began tossing the remaining stones aside as the Pokémon below cowered in fear.

"It's okay, guys. You're almost out," the side-twerpette cooed.

There turned out to be five Pokémon trapped below, a Trubbish, Sentret, two Zigzagoon, and a Patrat. Jessie couldn't tell if they had dug that hole as a last-minute attempt to keep from getting squashed or if they had found it and nested in it when the destruction had started. Either way, even with their path cleared, they were looking up at the humans, terrified, making no moves to try and get out.

"Come one, little guys," the big side-twerp said, trying to coax them out.

"Nuh-uh, you guys gotta move. Leave this to da professional."

Meowth walked right up to the edge of the hole as the humans once again backed up and watched him work.

"Alright, I'll be square wit ya, Pokémon ta Pokémon, ya dig?" Meowth started. "Youse guys have gotta get outta here. This city isn't safe right now, and next time ya get caught, there might not be any humans ta bail ya out. You've gotta remember: you're Pokémon. You're strong. You gotta use that strength to run out of town and look out for each otha. Got it?"

Jessie could hear little murmurs coming from the Pokémon and just a moment later, the first Zigzagoon jumped out, then the second, then the rest of the Pokémon followed. Meowth pointed them in the direction of the edge of town, and they began scampering off. Jessie noticed that they were all running easily—they'd managed to avoid any injuries in the collapse of the building. At least they had that.

The side-twerps seemed to let out a collective sigh once the Pokémon were out of sight.

"Thanks for helping with that," the big side-twerp said. "We couldn't have done it without you."

"You could have," James said easily. "Your Pokémon were the ones who did it. I think it's just hard for everyone to think clearly right now."

That was something everyone could agree on.

"Were you guys also looking to help with rescue efforts, or are you trying to evacuate?" the side-twerpette asked.

Jessie answered that one. "Actually, we were doing live reporting on the crisis, but our camera ran out of battery. Now, I guess we're just trying to help however we can."

"That's great!" the sleepy-eyed side-twerp said. "Even if we've usually been enemies, today you can definitely join us in trying to help people and Pokémon in the city."

The big side-twerp and the side-twerpette readily agreed, but the small side-twerp shook his head and said, "No."

"Trevor?" the side-twerpette asked. "Why would you say that?"

"If they want to join forces with us, they can," Trevor said as he reached for a PokéBall. "But they should be telling the world what's happening. This needs to be documented. That's more important for history. Raichu, go."

The side-twerp, Trevor, released his Raichu in front of them and held his hand out to James.

"I'm really good with cameras and I bet Raichu and I can recharge yours if you'll let me see it."

James had never bothered to take the camera bag off his person. Somehow, he'd run this whole way without realizing. Jessie and Meowth hadn't noticed either. He unzipped it from its bag and handed it over to Trevor. Trevor opened up the hardware and began fiddling around. He murmured instructions at Raichu, who gave off small shocks as directed.

At seeing Raichu, Jessie had a small, uncontainable urge to whip out a net or suddenly change into her Team Rocket uniform and try to capture it, but she just ignored that itch as Trevor worked. If she thought about it, Team Flare had provided them with the perfect distraction with which to steal dozens of Pokémon that day. Pokémon that were out—whether they had Trainers or not—were probably tired from running and attacking vines and would be easy targets.

But that was not what this day was about. Because they certainly wouldn't be employed tomorrow if there wasn't a tomorrow at all.

"That should do it," Trevor said as he flicked on a button. Sure enough, the button turned green and a screen came on that showed the debris in front of them with a full battery sign in the corner. "Hopefully it'll stay charged for a few more hours. Also, here."

Trevor reached into his filthy sweater vest and pulled out his camera. He pulled the lanyard it was attached to off his neck and handed it to Jessie.

"Sorry, I'm sure it's sweaty but you should have this too."

"But Trevor! All of your pictures!" the big side-twerp said.

Trevor shook his head. "Doesn't matter. People need to see what happened today."

And then, with the most astonishing display of good faith and belief anyone had shown in her, a liar, a cheat, a thief, Trevor looked Jessie right in the eye and said:

"And besides, Tierno. Maybe I'll get it back someday."

* * *

"You know where you're going, right, Mairin?"

Mairin nodded as they ran down the dim, metal hallway. "I do."

"Okay. I trust you."

As they ran and Mairin made decisions about where to turn, the only sound in the echoing hallway was their footfalls and heavy breaths. Serena was realizing how long it had been since last she'd eaten, or even drunk anything. Her body was becoming exhausted—but they still had so much to do.

"Do you hear that?"

Serena hadn't. Her brain was feeling foggy, and now that she wasn't in an actual Battle, it was hard to focus. But as Mairin stopped abruptly in front of her, Serena did too. It sounded like they both were still running. Which meant…

"Over here!"

Mairin grabbed Serena's wrist and the two of them darted into an alcove. Mairin was breathing heavily, clenching Serena's bony wrist painfully in her tight grip. Serena didn't mention it, though.

They heard a few sets of footsteps pass by, fortunately not too close to them. Serena couldn't tell if those people had been following them, but she sure didn't want to find out. As the sound disappeared, Mairin's grip loosened, though her breathing was still awfully loud for two people trying to hide.

"It's okay, Mairin," Serena said. "They didn't find us."

"I know," Mairin replied, rather breathless. "I…I know."

Serena figured they were in the all-clear, and wanted to head out again, but it was Mairin who had to take the lead. Plus, she wanted to make sure that the other girl was ready to start again. But as she looked down at Mairin, she saw that the girl's gaze was unfocused. For a moment, Serena wondered if she was also thinking about how hungry and thirsty she was, but then she took off again. Serena, feeling the fatigue growing in her body, followed as quickly as she could.

They returned to the hallway they'd just escaped from, and nothing was any different. There was no sign that anyone else had been there, not so much as a footprint on the metallic floor. For a moment, Serena was concerned that their dirty shoes were giving them away, but then she realized there was nothing she could do about that either way. So she kept running. After a moment, Mairin spoke up again.

"Serena, I have another Pokémon," Mairin admitted. "But I don't want to use it."

Serena was surprised. As far as she'd known, Mairin's only Pokémon was Chespie. But then, she'd only just met Mairin, after all. It was weird to suddenly think that the girl she was going through the potential apocalypse with was a girl that she didn't really know at all.

"Oh, it's okay, Mairin. If we do meet anyone from Team Flare, I'll take them out; don't you worry!"

"But, I know that my Bébé would be able to help you so you can do just that! And I know that right now we need all the help we can get. But I'm so afraid…"

"That's nothing to be ashamed of, Mairin." It was hard to get a speech out as Serena huffed through their quick pace. She'd also heard the breathiness of Mairin's voice—and for once it wasn't just from being overtaken by emotion. "I can understand why you'd be hesitant. You've gone through a lot."

They turned a corner, identical to all the others and Serena had to wonder how often Mairin had been in this lab. What had Team Flare done to Mairin's Chespin? Clearly, Mairin was traumatized. But she wasn't putting any blame on Team Flare for whatever had happened to Chespie. At least, not aloud. But knowing what they knew now about Team Flare, Serena had to wonder.

"But I'm a Pokémon Trainer!" Mairin said, her voice stronger this time. "Or at least I'm supposed to be. I _was_. But I can't even release my Pokémon from its PokéBall."

"Being a Trainer is complicated," Serena huffed. "I always used to wonder if the Rhyhorn my mother raced with even liked being used that way. It seemed like we were taking advantage of them. Pokémon training itself might even be like that too. But my mom would say that the relationship between humans and Pokémon is good for all of us. Pokémon are able to gain levels and Evolve with the aid of humans much better than in the wild. They can reach their full potential. And besides, Pokémon rarely do anything that they truly don't want to do. And if at any time her Rhyhorn let her know that she didn't want to race, she wouldn't. But Rhyhorn always seemed to like racing as much as she did. So they kept doing it."

"I'm not sure why you're telling me this."

Serena paused her speech, mostly to think, but also to catch her breath. "Well, I'm not sure if this is what you need to hear right now or not, but I guess I'm trying to say that your Pokémon don't need you. Of course, it's your job as a Trainer to protect them—I mean, I would do anything for my Pokémon—but that's not why they're with you. They're with you because they want to train _beside_ you and because they like you. So you protecting your Bébé might not be what it really wants. I mean, have you ever asked it?"

"I, uh…" Mairin's pace slowed to a halt. Serena abruptly stopped beside her. "No. I haven't."

Mairin was looking at the ground and Serena was afraid that she'd only enhanced her new friend's shame. She really should have kept to the role of cheerleader and supporter and left the advice to someone who knew more about Pokémon. But then, before she knew it, a bright light illuminated the hallway. Then, in front of her and Mairin was a Flabébé with surprise all over her tiny face.

"Hi, Bébé. Sorry for keeping you in your PokéBall for so long," Mairin started. She was shifting her feet nervously, still looking down at the floor. "Do you miss being out and battling and stuff?"

Bébé gave a little cry of affirmation and Mairin looked up to see it.

"Yeah, I guess you have. Alright, well, we don't have a lot of time, but, Serena, can you release your Pokémon?"

Serena was surprised. "My Pokémon? All of them?"

Mairin nodded. "Yeah, all of them."

Confused though she was, Serena took her three PokéBalls and released them into the hallway in front of her. Then she saw the faces of Braixen, Sylveon, and Pancham, all tired but looking at her with such life in their eyes. They all wanted to show that they were ready to take on whatever the next threat was in this mess.

And then she realized that her words were right. Of course she had a strong instinct to do whatever she could to protect her Pokémon—run in front of a train for them or punch out a Legendary with her bare fists if she had to. But they would do the same for her. And right now, with the world at stake the way that it was, she knew that all four of them were willing to put anything on the line to save it.

"Bébé, these are my friends, Serena's Pokémon. They've done a lot of hard work today and are really tired. Do you think you could help them?"

Bébé nodded with a little chirp.

"Okay, Bébé. Use Wish!"

The first thing Bébé did was close its eyes. It moved slowly from facing Braixen to facing Sylveon, to facing Pancham and then it opened its eyes. Nothing more happened for a bit. Then, suddenly, a few sparkles began to form in the air around Braixen. Then more and more until all three of Serena's Pokémon were enveloped in an intangible glitter that winked through the air then left. In its wake, all the scratches and bruises and even the dirt evaporated from Serena's Pokémon's skin and their health was restored.

Serena couldn't believe it.

"Thank you so much, Mairin! And Bébé. Really, we're so grateful!"

Serena's Pokémon cheered their agreement and it warmed Serena's heart to see them moving so easily and with so much energy.

"It was our pleasure," Mairin said, looking at Bébé. "I mean, it was about time."

"Thanks to you guys as well for all the hard work you've done today," Serena added, addressing her own Pokémon. "I want you guys to have as much time to rest as possible."

She lifted her PokéBalls again and returned her Pokémon one by one before turning back to Mairin.

"Really, Mairin, that was so fantastic!"

Mairin gave a slight nod as she returned Bébé, her face appearing contemplative.

"Not really. I mean, it shouldn't have taken that long."

Serena put a firm hand on Mairin's shoulder and looked her square in the face. "You've got to stop talking about yourself like that, Mairin. You just did a good thing. A _difficult_ thing. And now you've got a win for the day under your belt. That should feel good!"

"I guess…" Serena looked at Mairin as she seemed to work through what to say. She was crossing her fingers, holding her breath as she hoped that Mairin would say something good. "I guess now, even doing just that to help Bébé, and your Pokémon…I feel like I can help Chespie."

It was all Serena could do not to cheer. "Good! Then let's go find it!"

"Actually," Mairin pointed to the end of the hallway, "it's that one right there."

That stopped Serena for a second. They'd been on the road to finding Chespie for, what, a couple hours now? And Mairin had stopped when they were _this_ close?

She didn't have to wait for an explanation.

"My real worst fear is that, somehow, in trying to help Chespie, I just make it worse," she admitted. "But, I mean, he's with Team Flare now. Whatever I might do to mess it up…I can't be worse than them. So, let's go!"

* * *

Malva was using her Talonflame and Chandelure against Lysandre's red Gyarados and what Misty now knew from his calls was a Pyroar. And it was like watching the League finals all over again. Two titans of Pokémon battling talent were going head to head in the Battle of their lives, holding no punches all the while.

Talonflame and Chandelure had the advantage, since they had little movement restriction on the high, windy ledge. However, Misty knew from experience with her own Gyarados that Lysandre's wouldn't be any worse off than in any other land Battle. With a flick of its tail, it was able to smack Talonflame out of the sky, sending the Flying Pokémon careening down before it got its wings under it again, and soared up above. It came at Pyroar, slicing across the Pokémon with a Steel Wing before returning back behind Chandelure. Then the two took up long-range Attacks once more, Malva seeming to go back and forth between safe moves and strategic ones. Lysandre was, like his puppets in Ash and Greninja, more about brute force.

Misty, meanwhile, was floundering.

Malva had saved her skin—that much she knew. Misty had been handed a golden opportunity, and now she didn't know what to do with it. With only Greninja to worry about at the moment, she certainly had the opportunity to try Mega-Evolution with Gyarados again, but did she want to? A hardier Defense stat would sure help her out, but she definitely didn't want to be using a boosted Attack against Ash and Greninja.

Misty shook her head. No. No, she just couldn't do it.

"Just keep Greninja from hitting you!"

Gyarados was doing everything it could with its huge body to dodge Greninja's Physical Attacks. But on the ledge with the wind, combined with the growing plumes of smoke from the burning city below, Misty could see what a challenge she'd posed. When Greninja came straight at Gyarados with another Water Shuriken, there was nowhere to go. At the last moment, Gyarados created a spray of water in front of it just to slow Greninja down, but hopefully do minimal damage.

It was that move that gave Misty an idea. It was a maneuver that she'd been working on in the Gym and hopefully, in spite of all the variables, she could get it to work here.

"Gyarados! Use Rain Dance!"

The brief amount of time it took Gyarados to summon the clouds and create a spot of rain gave Greninja the opportunity to get in another direct Cut Attack. Gyarados took it in stride, though, and awaited Misty's next command.

"Now Hurricane!"

The wind on their ledge suddenly became stronger and more volatile. Misty crouched just to maintain a stronger center of balance as the building began to sway a little more and watched as the move whipped into a small cyclone right there on the roof. The rain would continue for a while longer, but all she needed was enough to keep Greninja trapped—unable to waste any more energy or Attack any further. As the cyclone formed around Greninja, Misty saw how the wind suddenly threw Chandelure and Talonflame off as well, making Misty a little remorseful of her strategy. But only a little; if the wind made their movements unpredictable, that meant Lysandre probably wouldn't be able to hit them either.

At first, Greninja tried to hop out of it, over it as the water grew into a hollow column. But soon it was too high and too dense, and Misty could only catch glimpses of Greninja spinning in it, effectively trapped, if only for a while.

She turned back to Ash. "Ash! You have to be able to hear me now!"

The connection still wasn't broken. Ash was just staring at the column of water—it was as though nothing else existed. Pikachu and his other Pokémon cried out again, but he didn't even glance their way.

As Misty heard Ash's Pokémon call out again in their battle-weakened voices, she realized something that she _did_ have the power to do right now. Something that Ash—as soon as he woke up—would be grateful for. And more than that, it gave her an idea for how to stop this.

She set Pikachu on the ground and told him to stay put before running over towards the cyclone. Her legs felt strong underneath her again, much better than they'd been when she'd hopped off Charizard. There were two choices. One: run to the right of the twister, hoping that her slim figure would allow her to fit between it and the side of the tower, but risking getting sucked in. Or two: run to the left where there was more room, but risk being blown off the ledge.

Misty chose left.

The wind was suddenly a much more acute sensation; it felt like it was pulling her, tugging her this way and that instead of the familiar, wave-like sensation of breeze. It hadn't even felt as potent when she'd been riding through the air on Charizard. Then, as she approached the cyclone, she felt it twice over. The updraft from being up high combined with the high velocity of the hurricane left her feeling off-balance. She had to lean away, towards the edge to keep from being pulled in. It made her wish that she had a Pokémon with Vine Whip or something to help her keep her balance.

She teetered towards the edge. The slickness of the ground from the rain caused the weight to come out from under her right leg. But at the last second, she tossed herself to the ground, hitting hard on her right hip, but successfully on the other side of the cyclone.

She'd made it.

Beginning at a crawl, then running again, Misty continued her pursuit towards Ash, who was only a few more meters away. His body was still frozen, as if trying to connect with Greninja, but to no avail. As Misty got right up in front of him, his eyes looking right past her, she froze. He didn't even know she was there. Then she noticed how fatigued his breathing was, the slouch of his back and shoulders. He was obviously feeling all the exhaustion that Greninja was, but was no more capable of stopping it. Seeing his haggard body, tinted red and slightly glowing, she was terrified. This was so far from the Ash she knew, he was hardly recognizable.

It was the cries of Ash's Pokémon behind her that did it. The weak squawks and chatters, and then Pikachu's heartbreaking keen drowning out all of them pushed her back to action.

She began reaching around Ash's waist and that was when his body leapt back into action. His visual focus was still on Greninja, but his hands were on Misty in sharp, uneven reactions, trying to get her off of him. It was a surprise and startled Misty for a second, but she just pushed through, smacking his hands away in a way that felt almost nostalgic.

It felt surreal to be touching Ash again after going without seeing him in person for so long. They had never been particularly touchy-feely with each other and only usually came in physical contact with each other when something was going wrong. Maybe if Team Rocket dug a hole that sent her, Ash, and Brock toppling over each other or they bumped into each other whilst running from an angry wild Pokémon. The most intimate it ever got was holding hands when trying to pass through a dark or foggy area. They rarely even seemed to hug.

But what she was surprisingly fondly remembering now were all the instances in which she'd smacked Ash upside the head or across the cheek or swatted him on the arm when he was being an idiot.

However, for all the familiarity the sense memory was providing her with, this was a totally different situation.

The one thing she had over this Ash was that he wasn't exactly thinking—a trait she'd usually say that he had in common with a fully-cognizant Ash—and therefore couldn't tell what she was trying to do. So, in between pulling and smacking his hands away, she managed to find the first 'Ball on his Belt and put it in her pocket. One down.

It only took another couple minutes of struggling for her to get the other five. When she had all of the 'Balls, she jumped away from Ash's angry limbs. She kept her eyes on him for a second and saw his body return to how she'd found it. Staring at the whirlpool and just barely hanging on. Only now it was wavering, swaying in a slight circle. He was getting dizzy from the cyclone.

Misty, too, then returned her focus to the cyclone, and looked for Greninja. It must have been feeling quite dizzy as well. It shouldn't take too much of a toll on its health but…really, she didn't know. But Ash sure didn't look good. She would just have to hope that her plan worked so that she could end this. Gyarados was doing fine, though, which was something. Then she looked one further.

"Alain!" she called out, nearly screaming in the effort it took to be heard over the wind.

He looked over to her from where he'd been tending to Ash's Pokémon. Since there was nothing he could do to heal them, he'd really just been keeping them from leaping into action or otherwise straining themselves, as Misty had with Pikachu. He gestured to the Pokémon to stay put and ran to meet Misty on the other side of the whirlpool.

She continued: "Take Ash's PokéBalls and return his Pokémon! Whichever ones don't work belong to Greninja and Pikachu, so give them back when you figure it out!"

Misty tried to reach an arm around the cyclone, but she and Alain didn't make it anywhere near close enough. And if she tried to throw or even roll them, they'd either get sucked into the twister or thrown off the edge.

"It won't work!" she cried.

Alain brought his arm back and closed his eyes for a second. Then he looked at Misty and said, "I have an idea."

Misty watched as he brought out a PokéBall and released it in front of him.

"Weavile, go!"

He said, "All you have to do is use Ice Beam and freeze the water with Greninja in it. Are you feeling up to it?"

His Weavile was tired, that much was immediately evident. But the time in its PokéBall had left it better off than Ash's Pokémon and with a big heave, it began firing a stream of ice at the cyclone, freezing it in action. Then the rest was easy.

Alain returned his Weavile quickly and reached around again for the PokéBalls, now able to lean right up against the ice pillar they now had in the middle of the ledge. Misty handed the 'Balls off and watched as he ran over to Ash's Pokémon to return them. Pikachu vocalized his help and Alain immediately kneeled down to accept it as Pikachu directed which 'Ball went with which Pokémon.

Misty could read the anxiety still on the faces of Ash's Pokémon. They were looking between Alain, Pikachu, and over in her and Ash's direction. If she knew how Ash's Pokémon tended to be, they would not want to leave him alone in crisis without a fight. But Misty had a feeling that Pikachu going along so readily with the plan was what put their minds the most at ease as they accepted being put in 'Balls one by one by Alain.

When there were only two 'Balls left, Alain and Pikachu headed back over to Misty and returned it.

"Here are Greninja's and Pikachu's. Do you want the others?"

Misty looked back at Ash for a second. Her immediate thought was that she should put them back so that they'd be there when he woke up. But then she thought of Lysandre, and how far he was willing to go. She couldn't risk the chance that Ash's other Pokémon would be used against him or used for evil, so she shook her head.

"No, you keep them safe. I'll just worry about Ash and Greninja. And Pikachu."

"Pika," Pikachu said in a sad voice as he ran around the frozen cyclone to rejoin Misty and Ash.

Misty gripped the empty PokéBalls in her hand and looked at the frozen cyclone before her. As she scanned upwards, she saw Greninja frozen about a third of the way up, one arm just barely poking through the ice on her side. She wasn't sure if she'd be able to return it without melting that portion, but it was worth a shot before she gambled away the brief respite of control Alain had provided her with. She lifted the PokéBalls—she'd try them both.

"You don't want to do that!"

A shiver ran down Misty's spine at hearing Lysandre's booming voice again. Somehow, over his and Malva's Battle, the wind, and the sounds of the city being destroyed below, she never did manage to miss a word he said.

Gyarados's Rain Dance had since stopped, but it had managed to drive most of the smoke and dust that had made it up to them back to the ground, so Misty could see Lysandre clearly across the ledge. Actually, the only smoke now was coming from the Fire Attacks his and Malva's Pokémon fired at each other. Lysandre's eyes were turned away from the Battle he was having with Malva—both still on their first two Pokémon, his continue to lunge recklessly and powerfully toward hers—and was staring at her as his Pokémon continued without instruction.

"You have no idea what it will do to return Greninja while he and Ash are under this state. Their inextricably linked right now, as I'm sure you've already proven yourself. Snapping that out from under your friend? What might happen to him?" Lysandre shook his head in faux-sympathy. "Even I don't know."

Misty swallowed. It could just be a mind game. Lysandre had good reasons not to want her to return Greninja for his own selfish purposes. But the truth was…she didn't know. She'd performed Mega-Evolution, but it didn't look anything like what Ash was going through now, or even what she'd seen during the Lumiose Conference. Whatever this was had to be stronger, at least in the space between them.

Every fiber of her burned with hatred for Lysandre, but he was right. She couldn't risk it. Whatever was happening to Ash physically was being supported by Greninja and vice versa. And they were both exhausted to a degree she'd never seen before. What if he fell into a coma? She couldn't risk it.

She minimized the PokéBalls and put them in her pocket next to her own. For a moment, she was still. That had been her only plan. All she'd had.

She screamed. It was not the loud urging, the shouts, the pleas of earlier. The sound broke through her voice, _hurt_ to produce, and sent tears to her eyes.

"Ash! Wake _up_!"

"Pi _ka_!"

His body was standing strong again, no longer swaying with dizziness. Whatever good sign that might have been to Misty ten minutes ago didn't matter anymore. She turned to him and began beating on his chest.

"Ash! Where _are_ you‽"

The words were sobs, breaking from the force with which they were produced. She shook his shoulders, cupped his face, slapped it, did whatever she could think of, but all to no avail. Seeing her loss of control, Pikachu must have thought it was safe to join with its original plan and began biting at his ankles, climbing up his body and tugging his ear. It was like they were moving the limbs of a life-size mannequin doll. No response.

Then Misty fell to her knees and cried.

* * *

Squishy—this red, unseeing, scary version of it—watched as Diantha retreated and focused her attention on the other Zygarde. When it seemed sure that she wasn't planning a sneak attack, it turned its big head toward Bonnie and her dad.

"Stand back, Bonnie," her dad said as he reached for his PokéBall.

"No," Bonnie said firmly. "No Blaziken. I trust Squishy."

She waited for her dad to fight her, try and convince her that she was wrong, but she saw his hand fall back to his side. Good, he was finally listening to her.

Now she could focus on Squishy.

"Squishy!" she shouted, cupping her hands around her mouth. "I love you! Don't you remember who I am?"

Squishy spat a ball of energy awfully close to her and Meyer. A warning shot. Her father cried out her name, but she ignored it, throwing an arm up to her face to block the dirt flying.

"I know everything about you, Squishy!" Bonnie continued. "You love the sun! It makes you feel better! You're ticklish! You have a lot of friends! I'm your friend! You don't want to do this! You don't want to destroy!"

As if to prove her wrong, Squishy lunged at them and sent a number of vines bursting through the ground behind them, about to smack them both into the ground. Bonnie felt her dad tackle her to the ground and wrap his arms around her, rolling them to the side.

"Bonnie, please, let me release Blaziken! Just for defense!"

Bonnie shook her head and broke free of her dad, putting her hand protectively on Dedenne, still in her bag to check on it. It was fine. "No! Squishy will hear me!"

At that moment, Squishy's enormous tail came flying at her, and Bonnie froze. She saw her dad leap up again and run in front of her. He stood there with his arms spread, and the next moment his body was flying past her. With a crash, his body fell into the debris, sending more dust into the already cloudy air. This time he didn't get up and Bonnie cried, "Daddy!"

But before she could run to him, she heard a roar from Squishy and, for the first time, she realized she'd made a mistake. She wasn't given a moment more to ponder it, though, because Squishy wasn't yet done. It reared back and opened its mouth, taking a moment to grow a multi-colored breath of energy that then came flying out in the form of three dragons. All three heading right at her.

Bonnie closed her eyes to brace for the Attack, but the impact never came. With a whimper, she opened one eye and in front of her she saw Dedenne had hopped out of her bag and was taking the brunt of the Attack. Bonnie screamed Dedenne's name, but the sound evaporated off her lips when she saw that Dedenne wasn't in pain. Whatever the Attack was, it must have been a Dragon Type move, because Dedenne was…fine.

A few tears leaked out of Bonnie's eyes. Dedenne had saved her. Squishy kept up the assault, but Dedenne didn't waver. Bonnie crawled over to Dedenne and put her hands on its back, careful to avoid the beams of the actual move Squishy was using. She whispered, "Thank you, Dedenne."

She picked Dedenne up as the Dragon move continued full-strength and she began to walk forward.

"You don't want to hurt us, Squishy!" she cried as she walked straight into the beam with Dedenne in front of her, deflecting the move harmlessly around them. "You love us, Squishy! And we love you!"

Squishy began extending forward, continuing its attempt to get the Attack to connect in a meaningful way, but Bonnie kept her slow walk forward, pushing into the powerful barrage until there was very little space between them. Soon, all that was left was the difference in height between Squishy's mouth and where Bonnie had Dedenne raised above her head.

"I love you, Squishy!"

Somehow, Squishy roared around the dragon-shaped beams still coming out of its mouth and it thrust its head towards Bonnie and Dedenne. Bonnie's heart clenched, worrying that it might use its big head to smack the two of them away like it had just done to her father. But she kept her eyes open. She brought Dedenne close into her chest, but she didn't flinch.

The next thing she knew, the multi-colored dragons had vanished and Squishy's nose was pressed against her forehead. The red glow faded from its body and it was once again green.

Without a thought, Bonnie put Dedenne on her shoulder and she wrapped her arms around Squishy's nose. Quietly, her voice wavering with emotion, she cried:

"You heard me. I _knew_ you would hear me."


	5. Loving

Celosia didn't have purple hair naturally. Of course she didn't. One would find with the swipe of a makeup wipe that she didn't have purple lips either, nor the purple eyes she wore behind her goggles. It was all a disguise. Had been for a long time.

Her sisters were identical quadruplets, down to their mousy brown hair. They were rare as a group, but as individuals they were duplicates four times over.

They'd hated it as long as anyone could remember. Everyone had always mixed them up, even their own parents while they'd been around. She could remember a childhood of all of them trying to take up outlandish habits, cutting each others' hair, going through gruesome fashion phases, all in the radical effort to individualize themselves.

Now all that angst made for good disguises.

They all had crazy hair, makeup, fake contacts, largely hid half of their faces and wore uniforms meant to confuse rather than individualize. Heck, they didn't even look like identical quadruplets anymore. Not unless you were looking for it.

Like it or not, their situation could be spun as an advantage. Of course, it meant that they all had to work together—and Celosia knew that her sisters thought the same nasty stuff about her that she thought about them—but if it meant that they could take part in shaping a new world, one where they could be themselves, so be it. They would use every trick in their book.

People only knew their first names. Celosia didn't get along particularly well with her siblings, but they were all smart enough—looking out for their _own_ skins enough—that they never slipped up.

They had been the inspiration behind all the uniforms that Team Flare had. They weren't the first villainous organization to walk boldly into the daylight in their uniforms. However, they'd done it the best, and Celosia and her sisters had made sure of it. The formula was twofold. One, the uniforms, plus the dyed, cropped hair, plus the big goggles made you unrecognizable, and not unlike a herd of Zebstrika blending together. You couldn't tell them apart. Secondly, few had witnessed their evil acts. No one knew the truth about the whole of Team Flare and their members.

Until today.

"Boss, come look at this!"

Celosia was brought back into reality by one of the grunts stationed in front of a screen. For a moment she thought that the newscast was back, but then she realized that it was a different monitor. An even more important one.

She ran across the room and looked at one of a few screens that had all of the information that Team Flare had gathered about Z1 and Z2. And immediately, Celosia noticed one stat, represented by a single bar on a graph, was dropping, reaching zero before her very eyes.

"It—"

"I can see what it means!" Celosia snapped. She leaned closer into the screen, pushing the grunt slightly out of the way to do so. In real time, they'd just witnessed the Mega-Evolution energy leave Z1 entirely. "Show me Z2."

The grunt quickly worked to bring up the same screen, but for Z2. Celosia could breathe a little easier, seeing that it was still under the control of the Mega-Evolution energy. So they weren't totally screwed.

Yet.

She had no idea what might have happened to get Z1 to regain control again, but if it had happened, it meant two things. One, they were basically shit out of luck if they wanted the vines to take over the Kalos region. Which meant exactly one thing.

It was time to enact plan B.

"Evacuate the building," Celosia ordered as she ran out of the room.

The order meant nothing really. But to the grunts who thought that it meant heading to a bunker where they would live, it meant everything. It was a shame it wasn't true.

While the grunts ran for their supposed lives, Celosia sprinted down the hallway, pushing her hand off the wall as she took the turn, having no time to lose. Sycamore, Steven, Mairin, and the other girl were bound to have already made it into the building. If her sister had failed to hold them off, then the extra agents she'd sent probably weren't up to the task either. Of course, they hadn't really anticipated having to square off against the Hoenn Champion when they'd rallied their defense efforts.

She was not going to fail like Mable had. And knowing her other sisters, she wouldn't be surprised if Aliana and Bryony had also managed to screw up the plan. The thought of being the last sister left standing propelled her forward to a door that had been left open.

What rookies.

"Not so fast!" Celosia shouted, out of breath as she saw Mairin and the other girl with the Chespin trying to take away the key to plan B.

"Mairin, stand back!" the other girl shouted as she enlarged a PokéBall.

So the pretty girl was the muscle. Celosia watched as the girl threw a PokéBall that released a Braixen.

Okay, this would be easy. Celosia had been mentally preparing to have to go up against Steven, a top tier Trainer, but instead here she was up against a starter that wasn't even fully Evolved.

Piece of cake.

"Drapion, go! Use Pin Missile!"

The space was small, so the opposing Braixen didn't have time to do much more than throw an arm up in self-defense. A good hit.

"Fire Blast!"

An easy move to avoid. It was slow-moving, and the shape of the flames made it effortless, even for a big Pokémon like Drapion. Celosia called for it to dodge and it sidestepped towards the hallway wall, out of the way of the door. One, nil.

Still, she needed to get in a good hit. She didn't have time for any nonsense. "Toxic!" she called.

"No, no, no, Braixen, dodge!" the pretty girl babbled.

Celosia sucked her teeth as Braixen hit the deck and Mairin and the other girl darted to the side. Another miss.

"Flamethrower, Braixen! Get her out of here!"

It was a good choice, admittedly. The Flamethrower came bursting out the door and enveloped Drapion, barely missing Celosia herself.

Okay, she wasn't playing games anymore.

"Confuse Ray!" Celosia called. "Wide range!"

She didn't care if it hit Mairin and her little friend. In fact, it would probably be good for her if it did. It wouldn't knock them out or even hurt them, really; it would just put them out of commission. And Celosia had to win this one.

Braixen was hit, but the girls managed to jump behind corners and avoid the Attack.

"Braixen, no!" the pretty girl called out as Braixen's eyes went square. The Pokémon began shaking its head, as if trying to get the tiniest bit of water out of its ears, but it wouldn't do any good against a Confuse Ray. "Can you use Scratch?"

Hearing her, at least, Braixen tried to balance itself and lunged forward as if to perform a Scratch Attack, but her claws only hit the wall, tearing through the metal with a screech.

"It's no good," the girl said. She reached for her PokéBall and said, "Braixen, return," calling back the Pokémon.

"Ready to call it quits?" Celosia taunted.

"Never!"

Celosia was surprised to hear Mairin—timid, meek little Mairin—cry out the word. She was even more surprised to see Mairin reach for a PokéBall.

"Bébé, go! Use Magical Leaf!"

"Magical Leaf against a Drapion?" Celosia scoffed. "Uh, okay."

Drapion used its tail to smack some of the leaves away, but Celosia knew that those that hit wouldn't do much damage. The Type advantage spoke for itself.

"You really wanna use a Fairy against a Poison Type, Mairin? Think your Chespin's gonna be proud of that? Think again!" Celosia taunted. "Drapion, Sludge Bomb!"

"No!" Mairin cried as she fumbled for her PokéBall. "Bébé, return!"

As Mairin returned her surprise Flabébé, the Sludge Bomb no longer had a target and was, instead, headed straight for her.

"Mairin!" the other girl shouted as she tackled Mairin to the ground, leaving the Sludge Bomb to splash harmlessly against the wall.

In that moment, Celosia realized she had an opening. Mairin and the other girl were on the ground with no Pokémon on their side. She ran forward and before the girls could even register what she was doing, she grabbed the Chespin from the bed and turned on her heel.

"No!" the girl shouted, lunging for Celosia and managing to get her nails around Celosia's ankle. It hurt like a bitch and she could feel that some of the nails had drawn blood. But the girl's grip wasn't strong enough and, painfully, she managed to yank her leg and begin sprinting back down the hallway.

"Didn't think you had it in ya, blondie!" Then she pointed her PokéBall behind her and called out, "Return, Drapion!"

She heard Mairin scream out, " _Chespie_!" so loud and with so much force that it sounded as though her vocal chords were tearing. The sound made Celosia's heart twitch a bit. Mairin was a nice girl, but she was just another part of the problem. She expected Lysandre to fix Chespie without offering anything in return. She didn't care that it might be difficult or time-consuming. She was selfishly expecting that he would fix everything out of the kindness of his heart. Well, at one point in time, he would have, and Celosia and her sisters would have gone right along with it.

In the new world, they wouldn't have to do that anymore. Or rather, if they did, others would be doing it for them as well.

"Come on, Mairin! Let's go!" Celosia heard the other girl shout, and not long after she heard the sound of quick footsteps pounding against the metallic floors. She upped her pace.

She didn't have much time.

* * *

"One, two, three, go!"

Clembot had spent the last several minutes accessing the technology that opened the door to the Lumiose Gym battlefield. Passwords had been changed and the door had been locked using sophisticated software. But, on Clemont's word, the door finally opened, and the two of them had a plan.

"Hey, intruders!" one supposed-grunt yelled.

Clemont grit his teeth as he steeled himself to do what he had to do. Luxray was already out, and not even Clemont's moral mind could stop him as he yelled, "Luxray, Electric Terrain!"

Before either of the grunts—a first appearance seemed to affirm that Clemont and Clembot had been right in guessing there were two of them—could throw a PokéBall, they both fell to the ground, twitching and lightly paralyzed.

Clemont quickly looked away from them and looked around the room for Xerosic. He didn't take long to find.

"Well, well, well. Clemont. _Ex_ -Leader of the Lumiose Gym."

Clemont stood strong. " _Current_ Leader of the Lumiose Gym, and here to reclaim it from insurgency!"

"It's cute that you thought a little Electric Terrain would knock me out. I'm an inventor; I've been shocked a few times in my life."

"You're not an inventor!" Clemont shouted. "Inventions are supposed to help the world, not destroy it!"

Xerosic put a finger up. "Dictionary definition. Inventor: a person who invents, especially one who devises some new processes, appliance, machine, or article." He gestured around at the machine that was now taking up the majority of the arena. "I'd say this new process, appliance, machine, or article blows all of those rinky-dink inventions I saw in your lab straight out of the water. This is going to reinvent mankind."

"I'm not going to get into an argument of deflection over semantics with you," Clemont shot back. "An invention that destroys mankind is not one that should be made. It's a waste of—of everything!"

"And inventions that try to make things incrementally better as humans get exponentially worse are the goal of fools!"

With that last shout, Xerosic brought out two PokéBalls and threw them onto the battlefield. A Crobat and a Malamar appeared, both with menacing faces, intended to intimidate.

"Clearly we're not going to agree, so I'll stand on the side of a beautiful new world, and you'll stand on the side of the crappy old one, and we'll see who comes out on top."

"Gladly," Clemont agreed as he pulled out a PokéBall of his own. "Luxray, go! Thunderfang!"

As Luxray managed a direct hit against Crobat, Xerosic shouted, "Malamar, use Signal Beam against him!"

Clemont was confused as Malamar continued altogether to ignore Luxray. But when a bright beam projected from its mouth straight at him, he understood and instantly turned his face to the side, already seeing flashing lights behind his eyes. The beam hit him and all his senses were brought to life in an oddly discordant way. He could hear very low tones and high tones in his ears, he felt hot and cold, and all he could smell was something that reminded him of static electricity in the winter. And then he realized he was beginning to feel capital 'C' Confused.

"What are you doing, Xerosic?" he shouted through the arm covering his face. His words came out loose and lisped, but he was fairly certain he'd used the right ones.

"The supposed 'Whiz Kid' turns out to be a nincompoop," Xerosic laughed, the sound coming through muffled to Clemont's ears. "I'm on a mission to restart the world; I have no qualms against killing you right here, right now. Malamar, Psycho Cut!"

The ringing in Clemont's ears intensified. He was going to die? Was he going to die? Would his death be the death that brought all the other deaths? His throat hurt. Had his throat been slit? Was that something that he should be able to think about if it had happened? His hands and knees hurt too. Would they hurt if his throat had been slit?

He was screaming. He could hear himself screaming. That's why his throat hurt. His hands and knees hurt because he'd fallen to the ground. He opened his eyes, looking up. His vision was gone. Everything was a blur. Oh. Glasses. He wore glasses. Those were gone.

He could see a black blob in front of him moving a lot against some other blurs. And there were roars. Not his roars, but other roars. Pokémon. Luxray. His Luxray.

"Luxray!" Clemont screamed, his tongue still feeling thick and useless in his mouth.

His head hurt. He closed his eyes again and dropped his head to the ground, finding the edge of his glasses with his forehead. He didn't bother to put them on—didn't even think to. He just cradled his head in his arms and moaned.

He didn't know how long he'd been like that when he realized it was quiet. No shouts or roars, not even the ringing. He stayed in his broken position, but he could feel the relief throughout his body as the Confusion faded. Then he felt something wet caressing his hair. He opened his eyes and saw two black blurs on the ground in front of him.

Clemont let out a little chuckle. "Luxray."

It wasn't a roar this time—Luxray gave a throaty little groan that Clemont knew was its soft and sweet voice. Clemont moved to kneel on his shins, feeling for his glasses. They were just in front of him, and he put them on. They were covered in dust, but he could still see better than he had without them. The sight before him was that of Xerosic, Malamar, and Crobat all on the ground, totally knocked out. Clemont looked from the scene to Luxray and bit his lip.

It was simple enough to put together. When his Trainer's life had been endangered, Luxray had acted without instruction and taken out the threat. Clemont stumbled to his feet, his knees still feeling a little shaky under him and stumbled towards Xerosic. His hand trembled as he reached out, putting two fingers to his neck. He could taste the bile in his mouth as the possibility coursed through his system. Then there it was. There was still a pulse. He let out a breath of relief. Thank goodness.

"Thank you so much, Luxray," Clemont said. Luxray had padded behind him, following. Clemont wrapped his arms around Luxray's neck and squeezed tighter than he might have normally. " _Thank_ you."

While Clemont was bent over, he took the two PokéBalls that had fallen on the ground and recalled Crobat and Malamar, then stuck the 'Balls back in Xerosic's pocket.

"Figure anything out, Clembot?" Clemont tried to project, but his voice was raw. It came out weak and pained, but audible nevertheless.

"I have. You should come here, Clemont."

While Clemont had been facing Xerosic, Clembot's task had been to sneak behind and infiltrate the system. From there, the goal was somehow to deactivate the ray's control over Zygarde. That was the bottom line.

Clemont, with Luxray behind, walked over to where Clembot had plugged itself into the machine. For a moment, Clemont allowed himself some disturbed awe at what Team Flare had managed to accomplish. The device was huge—it couldn't have been a simple process to move it all into the Gym, and somehow they'd done it swiftly and surreptitiously enough for no one to notice until it was far too late.

"It appears that Zygarde was hit with a dose of Mega-Evolution energy that would have induced Mega-Evolution, were Zygarde capable of doing so. My hypothesis is that the energy still stored in this ray must be taking the place of a Mega-Stone, possibly explaining why Zygarde hasn't ventured far from this building since it began its rampage."

"So you think we should try and push Zygarde away from the tower to break the connection?" Clemont asked.

"That would have a seven percent chance of success."

"Seven percent‽"

"If you combine Zygarde's current amplified power with our resources, the fact that it probably won't allow itself to be dragged away from the building, and the likelihood that Zygarde will only become more violent in an effort not to be detached from its power source, my best estimate is seven percent."

"Seven percent," Clemont repeated ruefully. "Can't we just turn the power off? The power in the rest of the city must be out, so it's my generator that's powering this. What'll happen if we do that?"

Clembot shook its head. "Not possible. This machine doesn't need electricity to function."

There was a world in which Clemont might have marveled at that. He wasn't sure exactly how this death ray worked, but the fact that it could function without electricity was quite a feat. Most of Clemont's inventions revolved around electricity—that was also why most of them exploded. He would have loved to see the inner workings of that machine. But not today. Today, he only wanted to see it destroyed.

Clemont sighed. "Is seven percent really our best option?"

"There is an option with a ninety-nine percent estimated success," Clembot offered.

Clemont felt his pulse jump at that idea. "Ninety-nine percent? Well, what is it? Why didn't you lead with that?"

"You asked me about the other idea, so I answered," Clembot stated. "And the ninety-nine percent idea has repercussions."

"Whatever it is, we have to do it," Clemont said. "It'll save the world."

"I can create a code to shut down the system. It will turn the whole machine off and then Zygarde should essentially revert to its normal form like a Pokémon unMega-Evolving."

"That sounds great, Clembot" Clemont said, confused. "What's the catch?"

"If I shut down the system, the energy stored will no longer be controlled. If my calculations are correct, releasing them would be like detonating a bomb."

Clemont tried to swallow, but his throat had gone dry. His gut clenched and he asked, "Um, how big of a bomb?"

"It would completely destroy Lumiose Tower."

Clemont thought about his Gym. What an accomplishment it had been to become the Lumiose Gym Leader, especially when he'd been so young. Over the years, the Gym had become his home, and Bonnie's too. Nearly all of his inventions, not to mention his notes and ideas, were in his lab here. All that would be destroyed. He'd have to start from scratch. Then he had a thought.

"You'd be able to get out, right?"

"Unfortunately, no."

 _Unfortunately, no_. Those simple words hit Clemont worse than anything else had that day. Worse than the fact that the city was on fire and there was a very real possibility of the world ending. Those things were hard to imagine, even as they were happening. The scale was too large. This reality, though, was very simple. Simple, but impossible to face.

Clembot was so matter of fact about things. It was the kind of mindset that was needed in this situation. Clemont liked to fancy himself a logical guy, but where was the logic in this moment? His mind reeled as he imagined the possibility that Clembot, his _friend_ , would end up a casualty in this battle. This was a friend he'd had for a long time, longer than Ash or Serena. And even though Clembot wasn't a person, it was dear to him as though it were.

This wasn't a call he could make. He'd never been good at making decisions, and the pressure of this one certainly wasn't making the job easier.

"Clemont," Clembot urged. "What are you going to do?"

Clemont shut his eyes as tears began to fill them. They managed to dribble out the corners anyway.

"I don't know."

* * *

Charlene was the only one left. The news of the disaster in Lumiose had spread to the Anistar Gym not long after Olympia had been taken to the hospital and the rest of the psychics had fled to their homes. Actually, Charlene didn't know quite where they had gone, but she figured home was a good guess. But she lived alone in Anistar, so instead Charlene walked to the sundial.

She'd been staring at it for a while now; it was so dazzling that whenever she blinked it continued to shine behind her eyes. _Protect the sundial_.

It was huge, certainly immovable. And the only Pokémon she had was her Espurr. Under Olympia's tutelage, Espurr had grown strong, but she was sure the both of them wouldn't be up for handling whatever it was that would befall the sundial.

Olympia had dropped a time bomb in her lap when she'd asked Charlene to protect it, and in accepting that request, Charlene had chosen to take the bomb and hold it tight to her chest. Now, it was ticking, ticking, and Charlene had no idea what to do with it. She couldn't fail Olympia. She had promised.

Charlene sighed, feeling the whirr of power that coursed through her whenever she was this close to the sundial.

She had no clue. She didn't possess the glorious power of sight, so she would just have to wait and find out.

Hopefully she wouldn't be made a liar.

* * *

Alain didn't know what to do.

He'd returned Ash's Pokémon to their 'Balls and put them safely in his pocket. Job done. Malva had taken over battling against Lysandre and, at moments, he hadn't been able to take his eyes off of the match. Malva had lost her Talonflame and Lysandre his Pyroar, and now the Battle was between Mega-Gyarados and Mienshao on Lysandre's side, and Chandelure and Houndoom on Malva's. Point being, Malva had things under control at the moment, and the last thing she needed was Alain throwing a fifth Pokémon from his exhausted set into the mix. There was no place for him in that match.

And somewhere along the line, the girl, Misty, had collapsed onto the ground in tears.

Alain's experience in the past year informed him that maybe he wasn't the best at knowing how to handle crying girls. He didn't have the right instinct to know what would help them best. As of today, he regretted everything about how he'd handled the situation with Mairin. He should have been there for her instead of going on this asinine journey to be the strongest, to the end that he hadn't seen the warning signs during his time with Lysandre.

Maybe this was a chance to do what he should have done with Mairin.

Misty's Gyarados was still released, just keeping an eye on Greninja as it remained frozen, trapped in the cyclone. Alain ran past the two of them to where Misty was on the ground.

"Misty!" he called.

She, nor Ash's Pikachu, who had crawled into her lap, looked up.

"Misty! Would Ash give up?"

A beam from Lysandre's Mega-Gyarados clipped a side of the ice column, causing a chunk of ice to fall to the ground and a crack to form above where Greninja was. "Fuck you and fuck your aim!" Alain heard Malva shout. Alain fell to his knees. He was at Misty and Pikachu's level now. She had thick bangs, so he couldn't see her eyes, but he could hear, at least, that she wasn't crying anymore.

"I have a friend that I would do anything for. I've even done really, really stupid things because I thought that they would help her. The fact that you're here tells me that you would do the same for Ash, am I right?"

"You're right."

"So get up there and keep trying. We have no idea what we're dealing with, which is scary, but also means that anything could work, okay?"

Misty nodded again, more vigorous this time. "Okay."

Alain stood up and extended his hand towards Misty. Pikachu scurried up to Misty's shoulder so that she could accept his hand as he helped her back to her feet.

"If Pikachu trusts you like this, then you and Ash must be really good friends," Alain observed. "And I think that just the fact that you're here tells me that you already haven't failed him. I wish that someone had told me that."

Now that she was standing, Alain could really see Misty's eyes. They were a lovely green, oddly accentuated by the redness of her eyes from crying. She was quite a pretty girl, actually, probably around Ash's age. It made him wonder if maybe Ash Ketchum wasn't as clear cut as Alain had thought he was.

Suddenly, over Misty's shoulder, Alain saw a plume of fire pass over Malva's Pokémon and straight for them. Without thinking, he tackled Misty and Pikachu back to the ground, and instantly felt the glowing heat of fire passing above him.

And then there was water.

"Oops!" Lysandre shouted, and Malva called back a hideously graphic response as their Pokémon began to clash again.

"No!" Misty cried, and Alain rolled over, whipping his head around to see that the ice column had thawed entirely, and Greninja was flat on the ground, body turning from the pale blue of being frozen back to its normal shade. At the same time, Ash, still beside them, began to twitch, and with one immediate strike from Greninja to Misty's Gyarados, the Battle was on again.

* * *

As they were battling, Lysandre's face had been serious. Or rather, it had been creased with grim hatred. Malva didn't know if it was towards her, the situation, or the world at large. Probably all three, honestly. But as his Mega Gyarados shot that Incinerate over her head, his face cracked into a shit-eating grin.

This wasn't something Malva had considered as she'd jumped into the fight. She wasn't battling in the controlled arena of the Elite Four battlefields. In fact, her battlefield was probably the safest place one could possibly have a Battle with her, as it was designed to endure fire. This was entirely different. She was on the top of a building with a psychopath standing across from her. And he wasn't afraid to really damage her Pokémon, herself, or the people and Pokémon behind her. Or the building they were all standing on, hundreds of feet in the air.

"Alright, fuckface, if you can pay attention to them, then clearly I'm not beating your ass hard enough yet," Malva shouted.

"Well, you didn't think that I would be using Incinerate on _you_ , did you? When your Houndoom has Flash Fire?"

"Maybe I thought you were stupid enough to forget!" Malva shouted. "I guess now I'll stop going easy on you! Time to burn it up! Houndoom, Mega-Evolve!"

She tore the Mega Stone from her neck and held it towards Houndoom, whose body began to contract and writhe before bone-like spikes burst from it. Its eyes clenched as its horns twisted up and bent into different angles, its hind legs kicking as the double-banded rings on its ankles sunk into the skin. Houndoom completed the transformation with a roar and a shake of its new body.

"Use Smog, Houndoom!"

A cloud of smoke erupted from Houndoom's mouth and blew with force towards Lysandre's Pokémon. The smog arose compact, but the wind at the top of the building was already starting to dissipate the cloud.

"Three, two, one," Malva counted under her breath, watching for Lysandre's face to just become visible through the smoke. Then she called, "Chandelure, Flamethrower!"

The Flamethrower hit the edge of the widening cloud and the highly flammable gas instantly caught fire. The fire ate through the smoke rapidly and, as a result, didn't last long, but she did see that it had made a small impact on Lysandre's Pokémon. Mega Gyarados was affected the least, as it was a Water Type, but it had been out a while, and all these Fire moves were starting to add up. Even in its Mega-Evolved form, its head was hanging heavy, a sure sign that it was weakening. Mienshao, however, had been blown back quite a bit by the explosion and struggled to push itself up.

Lysandre himself was patting his beard and his hair, as if trying to smother little embers. That caused Malva a little bit of twisted pleasure. Sure, she supposed that she'd played a bit of a bad guy over the last year, but she never thought of herself as the type of person who would use a Pokémon's strength against a human. But surely she couldn't be blamed for a little accidental singeing.

"Oops!" Malva yelled, repeating Lysandre's earlier taunt.

"Don't get cocky!" Lysandre shouted, his voice a bit raspier than it had been a minute ago from the smoke. "You're still on the losing end of a Type advantage! High Jump Kick, Mienshao!"

Malva knew the move was heading for Mega Houndoom. But Lysandre wasn't the only one with a Type advantage going for him.

"Chandelure, cover!"

Chandelure shifted to the front, guarding Mega Houndoom, who leapt to the side. Mienshao was already in the air when the exchange was made and it crashed straight through Chandelure's impermanent form and onto the ground, losing what Malva knew was half its HP. As the Pokémon stayed bent over on hands and knees in front of her, Malva noticed that its already purple face had a darker purple cast around the eyes than usual. She smiled smugly.

"Looks like your little guy is poisoned!" she shouted gleefully.

But as the words left her lips, she heard a crack, and a ring of spear-like stones pushed through the ledge and straight into Chandelure. Chandelure went flying, so fast that Malva couldn't react in time to miss it hitting her right in the chest. Even though Chandelure was a Ghost Pokémon, its weight and heat were still very real, and sent Malva straight to the ground, the wind completely knocked out of her. For a moment, she couldn't move at all, shivers of pain being sent all up and down her body from the small of her back. She had to give it to Lysandre—his aim was impeccable.

"Pretty easy bait you just fell for, Malva," Lysandre called as bits of the building crumbled to the ground and Chandelure failed to get up from where it had rolled behind Malva.

"Houndoom!" Malva shouted, her voice still powerful as she tried to get her legs back beneath her.

Without any more instruction than that, Mega Houndoom ran to Mienshao and took it in its powerful jaws, shaking it back and forth as though trying to snap its neck before making a meal of it in a powerful Crunch Attack. Malva returned Chandelure to its PokéBall just as Mega Houndoom spat Mienshao to the ground like a rotten carcass.

"We're still even," she said, reaching for her next PokéBall as she moved into a crouch. Her body was screaming at her from all over, but she'd be damned if she let Lysandre see that. "Let's see what you have next!"

* * *

Bonnie watched as Squishy's body trembled. She wasn't sure quite what it was that had been controlling Squishy, but she understood that Squishy seemed to be made up of a lot of parts. And it had just been through something, and so those parts seemed to be sorting themselves back out as Squishy returned to normal.

"Thank you, Dedenne," Bonnie whispered as she squeezed it close and gave it a kiss. "You saved the day."

Dedenne gave a little chirp and willingly went back into Bonnie's bag, the both of them glad for the moment of relief in the midst of the chaos.

As the positive feeling of Squishy being itself again and her gratefulness toward Dedenne relaxed, the negative feeling that Bonnie had put away for the moment resurfaced.

Her dad.

Maybe she'd been hoping that he would come up from behind her again, grab her, pull her out of the way like she'd been begging him not to earlier. But he hadn't come. Which meant that he had never gotten up at all.

Bonnie ran over to the spot where her dad had been thrown. With Squishy's transformation back, the vines were flailing less and not many new ones were cropping up. It was easier than before to run through the ruins.

Her stomach turned when the first thing that she saw was his legs, bent over the rubble he'd landed in. Nothing was in an unnatural position, thankfully, but this was her _dad_. Her dad, the superhero. Seeing him down on the ground was suddenly the most terrifying thing she could imagine.

"Daddy?" she called as she reached him. She shook his body, but his eyes were closed, his jaw slack. But his chest was ever so faintly going up and down. She didn't know much about bodies or first aid or anything, but there was one thing that this equation added up to.

She needed help.

Bonnie looked around, trying to spot Diantha. She wasn't hard to miss, because she and her Gardevoir were still going up against the other Zygarde, dodging Attacks and trying to land as many as they could. She wanted to run over and beg for help but…she wasn't sure that Diantha would be willing to stop, even to save her dad.

Her eyes wandered up as, for the first time, she saw Attacks sparking from the top of the Lumiose Gym. Attacks definitely meant Pokémon. But she was also willing to bet that it meant humans. And she had a good guess as to which human may have found himself on that rooftop.

"Squishy!" she shouted, desperation pitching her voice up. "Help me!"

To her relief, Squishy came right over, knocking vines out of its way as it did so.

"Do you think we could climb up there?" Bonnie asked, pointing to the top of Prism Tower.

Squishy nodded its head a little bit and then lowered its head down to Bonnie's level. Bonnie was about to climb when she took one last look at her dad. In a flash, she remembered what he would do any time she got hurt and she kneeled beside him again.

She wasn't exactly sure where his booboo was, so she kissed his cheek. Twice, for good measure. Then, she plucked Dedenne out of her bag, where he had only been resting for a minute, and placed him next to her dad.

"Dedenne, I hate to leave you, but do you think that you'll be okay watching my dad?"

Dedenne nodded immediately, giving a chirpy little, "Ne!"

Bonnie took a breath, trying to cement herself in her decision. She didn't like the idea of leaving either of them there, but it was better than her dad waking up alone. At the very least, Dedenne would be able to protect them both against a Dragon Attack from the other Zygarde.

Just in case he could hear, she said, "Feel better, daddy. I'm going to get help and I'll be right back. Okay? _Feel better_."

Then she went back to Squishy and scrambled up with her now empty bag, and held as tight as she could around Squishy's neck, her back leaning up against the protruding frills. Squishy looked back at her, seeking her approval before moving. They didn't have any time to waste.

"I'm fine, Squishy," Bonnie declared. "Let's climb."

* * *

"Garchomp, use Slash!"

Professor Sycamore had hoped that he wouldn't have to use Garchomp again for a long while, allowing it as much time to recover in its PokéBall as possible before the next dilemma would inevitably hit. Well, it hadn't been a long wait, but at least his opponent was fairly weak. He watched as the Golbat took the Slash Attack right to the side of its face and hit the ground. It was one of many Attacks to make direct contact, as there wasn't much room in the hallway for dodging. The grunt reluctantly withdrew his last Pokémon and stood back.

"Aron, finish it with Metal Claw!"

Steven had returned his Metagross because it, as well as most of the other Pokémon he'd brought, were too large to fit in the hallway. But his unEvolved Aron was doing comfortably well in its Battle against an Electrike. The Metal Claw ended up missing, but Aron immediately went into a side tackle that knocked the Electrike down and out.

"Return your Pokémon, Professor," Steven called as the grunt gasped over his fallen Electrike.

The professor didn't know why Steven was asking this, but he didn't give a moment's hesitation as he returned Garchomp back to its 'Ball. He'd wanted that extra rest anyway.

Then Steven commanded, "Metal Sound!"

Professor Sycamore instantly knew to put his hands up to his ears and try as best he could to block out the noise. The screeching was still horrible, but it hit him far less than it did the unprepared grunts, whose hands flew to their ears as they fell to their knees in agony. Steven took the opportunity and began running past them, Professor Sycamore quick to follow. Aron kept up the screech until the moment Steven fired his PokéBall behind him, just before they rounded a corner.

"Smart thinking," Professor Sycamore said.

"We're just lucky those guys weren't experienced battlers," Steven replied.

"I can only hope that Serena and Mairin are faring well."

"And that a stronger enemy doesn't come our way. We're almost there."

Steven rounded another corner and Professor Sycamore skidded a little, pushed off the wall in order to follow. Steven made it to an unmarked door and pressed a button beside it. It took the sound of a single ding for Professor Sycamore to realize that it was an elevator. For a moment, he was worried. Elevators were always locations recommended to avoid in states of emergency, and he was worried at the thought of going in. But Steven seemed confident, and that gave the professor the strength he needed to follow.

The door opened easily, as though embracing them as a hostile force within the building, and Steven pressed the uppermost button. All the way to the top.

As the doors closed, they sectioned Professor Sycamore and Steven off from the rest of the headquarters as well as the tragedy in Lumiose, offering them a moment of respite. Which did not help Professor Sycamore in the least. So far, he'd done a really good job of not thinking about everything that had happened today. He'd been jumping from one task to the other, goal-oriented and in the action, where distraction could cost him. But in this moment, there was nothing overriding the chatter in his mind. And even after only a few moments, it was smothering him.

Kalos had an ecosystem to it. It had never been strictly proven before, but Professor Sycamore had always believed in it. Any scientist knew that, largely, life on Earth was in balance; an overabundance of one thing would eventually lead to a scarcity of resources and it would knock itself back, returning to normal levels. Pokémon had the ability to manipulate some of this natural law, but Pokémon were so in sync with nature that studies had proven that most put an active effort into keeping their environment in balance. But Kalos in particular had a failsafe. Or so legend told.

That failsafe was Zygarde.

So, whenever something strange happened in another region—the past clashes between Groudon and Kyogre came to mind—it was a disaster. Hoenn had Rayquaza as an intermediary, an equal to those titans. But Zygarde was more. Zygarde had the Ability to cancel Xerneas and Yveltal's Abilities. Xerneas and Yveltal kept Kalos in sync, but Zygarde was there should anything go wrong. And today, for the first time, Professor Sycamore saw Zygarde for himself. The legends were true.

But it was under the control of someone else.

Lysandre had stuck mankind's grubby hand into the most steadfast laws of nature. Now it was up to humanity to counter that. But leaving this job up to humans—the ones most prone to mess up, the ones most prone to toss the world into chaos in the first place—was a tough gamble. Professor Sycamore would have bet anything that, should the world fall out of balance, Pokémon could take care of it. If not Zygarde, some other Pokémon would interfere and right the—probably human—mistakes that had occurred. He wasn't so sure about putting the same bet on humans.

Professor Sycamore loved mankind. He loved what it could accomplish, specifically what science had taught all of them. But he knew it was flawed. And he supposed this was the moment they'd find out to what degree it could rise above.

He was relieved when the elevator finally came to a rough halt, giving a soft ding as the door opened.

The first thing he saw was the Giant Rock. There was no way to miss it. It was the primary feature of the room, emanating a light that shone off the metal walls. He had to admit that it was smaller than he had anticipated. With the designation of 'Giant Rock' he had expected something more mountainous, but the truth was that it couldn't have been more than six or seven meters tall, end to end. Probably closer to five.

Steven didn't pause. He ran straight for the electronic set up surrounding the tube the Giant Rock was encased in and began clacking on keys. Professor Sycamore then realized that the glass—or glass-like—barrier wrapped around the Giant Rock also had a screen just outside it. He followed Steven and looked over his shoulder.

"Have you ever used these computers before?" he asked as he alternatively watched Steven's fingers fly over the keys and eyed items being brought up on the screen.

"No," Steven answered, not pausing in his search for information. "But here it goes."

Professor Sycamore nodded, then walked to the other side of the rock and began futzing with the keyboard himself. "What are we looking for, exactly?"

He could see Steven shrug through the glass, the tapered bottom of the rock barely obscuring his view.

"Anything."

* * *

"Clemont."

"Just give me a minute, Clembot!"

"Time is running out, Clemont."

"I know!"

Clemont's heart was pounding. His breathing had become rushed and he worried that he was going to begin to hyperventilate. There weren't any paper bags in the room for him to breathe into if he did. What would he do then?

"Can't you just make the decision?" Clemont asked in a rush.

"I don't have the authority to do so," Clembot answered. "You must give me the order."

He'd known that already. He'd just been hoping beyond hope that he'd be given an out. Someone else would take the reins and he'd be left unable to refute whatever decision was made. That was where he was most comfortable.

But no one cared about his comfort today.

Clemont began to groan, a small rumble in his throat at first, then it grew into an all-out scream. He could feel his voice vibrating like a well-trained opera singer holding out a long note at the end of a number. But the sound that he made wasn't beautiful. It was full of all the anguish that had been filling up in him all day. And as he let it out, it allowed clarity to come in.

"Luxray," Clemont heaved after a big breath, "grab the two grunts and put them on your back."

Luxray nodded with a grunt and loped over to the two agents still on the ground and tossed them one at a time onto his back. Clemont then made his way over to Xerosic and looked down at his unconscious form.

Xerosic was a full-grown man, about as tall as the average man and quite overweight. Clemont himself was eighteen, kinda short, kinda scrawny, and with very little muscle mass to his name. He really wished he'd listened when Bonnie had told him to exercise.

Fortunately, he had a way around it.

"Aipom Arm, activate!"

He could hear the strain of the machinery as it struggled to pull Xerosic's unconscious body off the ground, but after a few different attempts at grip, it was able to do it. Xerosic was raised above Clemont's head, and his weight was thrown back. He stumbled a little, trying to find his new center of gravity, but in bending his knees and widening his stance, he managed to stay upright.

"Clembot," Clemont started, the words hard to form. "I don't want to say goodbye yet. You've been a dear friend to me, and I'm so grateful for everything you've done. You're going to save the world now, and that will be your legacy."

"Thank you, Clemont," Clembot said with a nod. "I wish I could have served you longer."

Clemont's lower lip began to tremble. "Don't make this harder than it already is, Clembot."

"It doesn't have to be sad, Clemont. You have made me happy, and I am happy serving even now. Besides, I believe in you. You're brilliant. This might not end up being the end, but simply a goodbye for now."

"Oh, Clembot. I'm so happy I know you," Clemont sniffled, tears running down his cheeks.

"And me you. It is an honor to have been created by you."

Clemont swallowed, the lump in his throat hard to get past. "Give me sixty seconds," he said. "Then press the button."

"Commencing countdown. Sixty, fifty-nine, fifty-eight…"

As Clembot began counting down, Clemont called, "Luxray, follow me!"

With Luxray behind him, Clemont began running as best he could with Xerosic's extra weight. His gait was slow and clumsy, but he went as fast as he could up to the edge of the Gym. And when he reached the giant hole in the wall, he jumped.

* * *

Misty sprang to her feet and belatedly called for Gyarados to dodge as Greninja took advantage of its element of surprise and hit Gyarados with rapid-pace Cut Attacks. Gyarados flailed a little bit before smacking Greninja with its tail, sending it to the ground.

This time, being so close to Ash, Misty noticed his body tense at Greninja's impact. "Ash," Misty breathed involuntarily, her habitual worry for him coming out. Pikachu gave a little murmur as well, and Misty realized that Pikachu had rolled off her shoulder when Alain had tackled her.

"Pikachu!" she gasped. "Are you okay?"

"Cha," Pikachu said, pushing up onto all fours and shaking off the melted water that had dampened his coat.

"Have Gyarados try Crunch," Alain suggested. "Maybe it can trap Greninja in its jaws without hurting it."

"Good idea," Misty said. "Gyarados, try restraining Greninja with Cr— _ow_!"

Misty felt herself being shoved forward and looked back at Ash, whose focus was now tracking between Greninja and herself.

"Gyarados, use Crunch!" Misty called again. This time the words came out, and Ash immediately pushed her again. The shove came with more force this time around, and Alain had to catch her as she stumbled forward.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Fine, thanks," Misty grunted, turning her attention back to Ash. She grabbed both his wrists and yelled, "Stop it, Ash!"

He pushed against her, but her grip was strong and she wasn't going to let him go any time soon—not if she could help it. Behind her, she heard Alain shout.

"Gyarados, watch out for its Water Shuriken!"

"Listen to him, Gyarados!" Misty shouted without much thought. She wasn't used to having to battle with such split attention, and she was realizing quickly that it was a skill she really lacked in.

"Wait," Alain said, whipping his head around. "Do you want me to battle for you?"

"I don't know!" Misty groaned as she pushed against Ash, trying to get his body against the side of the building so she would have more of an advantage. In the background, she heard another slam that sounded like it was coming from Gyarados and Greninja, though it could have been Malva and Lysandre's Pokémon for all she knew. "Yes! You won the Kalos League. I trust you."

Alain seemed to hesitate for a moment before saying, "I'm not sure you should."

"Look, I don't know you!" Misty said. "But I trust you as a Trainer, okay? And if not," she grunted as she finally maneuvered Ash against the wall. "I'll pummel you to the ground. Capiche?"

"Capiche," Alain agreed quickly. "Gyarados, try to wrap Greninja in your tail!"

 _Good move_ , Misty thought to herself. Ash, on the other hand, pushed against her and she twisted his arm a little bit. She had to bite her lip in order to do so, but she would not let Ash push her off the edge of the building, no matter what.

"Ash might stop struggling if you move further away and he isn't aware that you're battling against him," Misty told Alain.

"Good point," he agreed, and jogged slowly down the wet ledge, closer to the battle.

Misty instantly felt Ash's muscles loosen a bit and she sighed in relief. Ash had gotten strong and fit over the years, and if push came to shove, she wasn't sure that she'd be able to overpower him like when they were kids.

Suddenly, Misty heard Lysandre shout. She didn't catch the exact words, but from his tone, she hoped it was because something had gone wrong for him. She looked over at the Battle between him and Malva, hoping to see that his Gyarados had gone down or something, but she saw something totally different.

A Zygarde was scaling the building. Lysandre began firing shots at it, but that only served to draw its attention. And then, suddenly, he was battling three Pokémon, not two.

Compounding Misty's shock, a little girl jumped off of Zygarde's frill and ran straight towards her. As she came close, she pulled Misty's attention from Lysandre and shouted, "What are you doing to him?"

Pikachu ran up to the girl, chattering in what Misty interpreted as protest. He was gesturing towards Misty in apparent defense that she wasn't hurting Ash.

Misty looked between the two of them and sputtered, "I'm not sure it's safe for you to be up here…"

"I don't care! I need Ash's help!"

Misty couldn't even be surprised that this girl knew who Ash was—everyone always seemed to.

Before Misty could respond, though, the girl's face fell as she looked at Ash. "He's been hit by the ray too, right? Turned bad?"

Misty nodded solemnly, her grip on Ash loosening. "Yeah, I'm trying to turn him back."

"Okay," the little girl said firmly. "You just need to tell him you love him."

Misty's whole chest contracted and she looked at the girl with wide eyes. "Wh-What?" she asked, sure that she must have misheard.

"All I had to do for Squishy was show it that I loved it, and now it's back to normal," she said, gesturing to Zygarde, who was now looking over at the Battle between Lysandre and Malva.

"Show Ash that I…love him?" The words were hard to get out, even to a stranger. A child, nevertheless, who probably thought that it wasn't a big deal to love someone. Actually, she probably just had no idea what exactly it was she was asking of Misty.

"Oh no, what's wrong with Greninja?" the girl asked as she took notice of its Battle with Misty's Gyarados. "Did the ray get it too?"

Misty nodded, still a little dazed from the girl's request. "Yeah…yeah, it's both of them."

"Then they both need our help!" the girl said resolutely. "I probably know Greninja better than you do, so I'll help it, and you can help Ash, okay? Pikachu, help me!"

Before Misty could even respond, the blond girl had run towards Greninja, leaving her and Pikachu looking at each other. Pikachu gave her a nod, as if trusting her with Ash, and scampered after the girl.

Her hands were still on his wrists; she could feel his pulse jumping under the skin. He'd stopped struggling against her—whatever he'd been subconsciously registering as a threat had vanished as Alain's calls to Gyarados had vanished from his senses. Acutely, she became aware of their closeness again. Against the tone of the day, she began to blush.

Truthfully, Misty didn't know quite what to think of the little girl who'd rode in on the Zygarde, but she wasn't really in a position to defy her. She'd been out of ideas and the child had provided her with a new one. She took a deep breath.

"We've been best friends for a long time, Ash," Misty started. "We don't see each other often or I guess even talk and catch up all that much. But it's always like no time has passed when I see you again. Except this time, I guess."

It was hard to look him in the eye as the words came stumbling out. They weren't natural, and it wasn't the kind of dialogue she usually had with him. Ash was a person she'd always been honest with. She said what was on her mind and didn't mince words with him. But even though he couldn't really hear her, she still felt naked as her words struggled to form.

"Yeah, um, best friends love each other, Ash. I think we've had a type of love for each other since it stopped being about my bike and it was about traveling together as friends. You, me, and Brock love each other, yeah? I love you, Ash, and somewhere down there, you must know that."

Misty looked from the spot on his shirt she'd involuntarily focused her eyes on and at his face. She searched each blank eye for some sign of life, some dissipation of the red glow around him. But there was none. Misty felt her heart begin to sink.

She looked over at the blond girl, who was tugging on Greninja's limbs, pulling it into scrambling hugs as it kept pulling away, trying to continue grappling with Gyarados. Pikachu too, with renewed energy, was scaling Greninja's body, chattering in its ear, trying to get it to hear them. Alain seemed lost, saying things to the girl that Misty couldn't hear and talking to her Gyarados. The girl was earnest in a way that Misty wasn't—it was a gift of youth. A gift that everyone had as children, certainly one that Ash had even to this day. It was one of the things she liked about him. But Misty realized that, at some point, she had lost it

For all the honesty she'd had with Ash, she'd rarely been _earnest_ with him. There were certain cards she held close to her chest, and after so many years, she'd kind of figured that there were some secrets that would always stay private.

Slowly, Misty shifted her grasp on Ash's wrists and slipped it to his hands, interlocking their fingers. For a moment, she just felt them. Felt his incredibly dry, calloused hands. Chlorine, not to mention her recent flight, had made hers much the same, and they scraped against each other. Maybe some would have thought it an unpleasant sensation, but Misty felt her gut tighten with something she hadn't felt in a while. Something she'd only ever felt for Ash, but usually stayed dormant. Dormant and safe.

Misty swallowed, her throat suddenly dry as her face heated all the way down to her neck. "I wish this was really you right now," she whispered.

Her gaze had dropped from his eyes to his hands in hers. She could see the hangnails, the awful cuticles, his tan, weathered skin against her own pale hands. She squeezed them as she brought both hands together, between their chests.

"Maybe it's not exactly a friend thing," she started. "It hasn't been for a long time. Not just that, at least. You're special to me, Ash. Maybe the most special."

She began rubbing her thumbs over his knuckles, one of the little nothings she'd been daydreaming about for years when she allowed herself to.

"And I would do anything for you, so here goes." One steadying breath. Two. She looked back up at his eyes. "I love you. I've loved you for a long time, and I need you back."

Her voice cracked on the last word and she felt her throat tightening as the emotions consumed her.

"I love you, Ash. I love you and I believe that you can break through this. _Please_ , Ash. Hear me."

She repeated the words, growing more confident each time, her grip on his hands tightening. Then her chest caught. For a second, she thought she was imagining it. But there before her, Ash's eyes began to warm. The red vanished and the perfect brown came back. Misty was mesmerized, shocked that it had actually worked. But before she could revel or celebrate or whatever the protocol was in this kind of situation, his eyes closed, and he began to fall forward onto her. Reflexively, Misty released his hands and reached around him, giving him the tightest hug she ever had as she struggled to hold up his dead weight.

Then, before she could think of a way to lay him down or get his weight in a more manageable position, she heard a deafening explosion. The building shuddered and she saw a burst of smoke below her.

And the building began to shake.


	6. Exploding

It was the first thing they got on their freshly juiced-up camera. They were running through the city, capturing the day's horrors on foot this time, when they heard a loud explosion. James immediately swiveled, and they caught the plume of smoke flowing out of Prism Tower. A few moments later, flames began licking out of the gaping maw that had already been carved out of the side to make room for Team Flare's laser. Jessie's commentary was scattered—there had been an explosion, but who knew what it was or what might have caused it. But again, if anyone was still in the area, they needed to evacuate. A few minutes later, they captured the only footage of Prism Tower collapsing.

* * *

None of them heard the explosion. Well, maybe they did, maybe they didn't. From their distance, it blended in with all the other sounds of buildings crumbling and debris falling. But it was Tierno who _saw_ it first. In a frenzied babble, it came across that Prism Tower was on fire, and they didn't have to wait all that long to see it collapse. They all knew that Diantha was over there. They didn't know how close she was or what danger she might have been in, but none of them seemed to breathe for a few minutes. They just stood and watched the blaze.

* * *

All Diantha could say was that she and Gardevoir had been battling for a long time. She knew no more than that. She had been in the zone, one-track-minded for hours. Or had it been fifteen minutes?

The one thing that pulled her out was seeing a spot of red turn to green out of the corner of her eye.

It didn't even register for a few moments, but when it did, her head whipped in the other direction in time to see that the other Zygarde had turned back. Meyer and his daughter had succeeded.

And she obviously hadn't. Her fighting, while to some degree successful in distracting Zygarde, wasn't doing anything to turn it back. If Meyer and his daughter had found the solution, maybe they would join her and do the same for this Zygarde.

But it didn't happen. After a few minutes more of stalling, fighting with her Zygarde, she noticed the other one scaling Prism Tower with the little girl on its back.

It was only a few minutes—hours? Days?—later that a bang tore Diantha from the Battle yet again. Her hands flew to her ears and even Mega Gardevoir seemed to drop her focus, losing control of a Shadow Ball she'd been forming. Diantha's eyes immediately went to the source of the noise—the gaping hole in Prism Tower where the ray was. And she saw the smoke.

For a moment, the smoke riveted her. But in the next, she saw a beam of green fly into her eyesight. In a daze, her eyes were brought back to Zygarde, who seemed in that moment to break into a million pieces. Bits of green shot out in every direction until just the tiniest bit remained and fell to the ground, motionless.

Without a moment of thought, Diantha ran for whatever it was that had just fallen out of the sky, and was left looking at just about the tiniest little Pokémon she'd ever seen. Bigger than a Joltik, but formless and…squishy. Was this really the enemy she'd just spent the last however long fighting against?

As Diantha took the little thing in her arms, Gardevoir came to her side, fading out of her Mega in an instant. Instinctually, Diantha grasped her hand as two things became abundantly clear.

One, their work there was done.

Two, she had to get the hell out.

With Gardevoir in one hand and the little Zygarde in the other, she tried to think of the best place to teleport. But before she got the chance, she felt Gardevoir sharing a thought with her. Diantha's gaze shifted over, and she instantly knew what Gardevoir had seen.

There, lying in a pile of rubble, was a body.

* * *

For a moment, as he fell, Clemont pondered what it would be like to die like this. To jump, regardless of what lay below, with the expectation that that would be it. How anyone could reach a place, so dark, so desperate, that they thought that to be their only choice. To take the leap and expect not to regret it.

A few years back, someone had taken that very leap off the top of Prism Tower, and it haunted Clemont to this day. Sure he hadn't been the designer of Prism Tower, nor was he the owner, but he was a proprietor there. His Gym and lab were there and, in many ways, he was the face of the building. It had been on his watch that this had happened.

So he'd made an invention.

At a few intervals on the tower, there were barely visible nets that went around, all connected to a pulley system. For a few painstaking weeks, he tested and tested the system with all kinds of dummies, accounting for every variable possible. There was no way that anyone would be able to make a successful jump ever again.

Still, a scream tore involuntarily from his lips as his limbs flailed through the air, before being unceremoniously stopped by the net. His weight and velocity kept him going before the resistance of the net brought him back with a slight bounce. Clemont took a shaky breath, his first since jumping, and accounted for bodily awareness.

Everything was in place. Nothing felt injured. Luxray was beside him with its load, and Xerosic was just above him, still attached to Clemont's Aipom Arm.

Then the pulley started taking them down.

They collected two more nets on their way down before being delivered at the bottom, safe and sound.

Except not at all safe, nor sound.

Shakily, Clemont pushed himself to his feet, knowing that there was no time to waste. It was hard to get his balance again at all after the jump, but especially with having to maneuver to get Xerosic back in the air for Clemont to carry. But with a strength he hadn't known he held, he got up, and with Luxray taking the lead, they ran for their lives.

The explosion was quick behind them.

* * *

It was a scramble. Pokémon were being returned and released left and right as it soon became clear to everyone that Prism Tower was going to tumble to the ground.

"Everyone!" Malva shouted. "We need to get out of here!"

Misty grunted as she shifted Ash's weight, trying to hold him up with one arm as she fished around for her PokéBalls. She didn't have time for this. Misty didn't know a lot about how long it took for buildings to fall after internal explosions, but the fact that it was shifting and swaying did not give her the impression that they had much time. After a few moments of fumbling, she managed to find Gyarados's PokéBall and returned it. Then she realized that before anything else, she'd have to get Greninja's PokéBall too.

"Come on, come on," Misty muttered as she began fishing around in Ash's pocket. It had been much easier to do this when he'd been frozen in place than now as dead weight against her shoulder. She found the two 'Balls Alain had returned to her earlier—Pikachu's and Greninja's. One of them had a shine to it, a few scratches, but not in bad shape. The other was dull, not shined as often as Misty remembered Ash to polish his PokéBalls. That one was Pikachu's. It was never used, but Ash had still hung onto it all this time, so it had gotten the wear of a well-loved 'Ball nevertheless. Misty put that one back.

She pointed the other 'Ball towards Greninja, and felt a tickle of relief as it went back safely into its PokéBall. She could only hope that after this whole endeavor, it would be able to heal a little in its 'Ball. She didn't dare consider that it might be worse off than that.

"Pikachu!" Misty shouted as she looked for one more PokéBall. She was sure that Alain or that little girl would look after Pikachu if they had to, but she'd be damned if she didn't make it off this tower with Pikachu in her arms.

A moment later, Pikachu was scampering over to her, and Misty had the PokéBall she'd been looking for in hand.

"Go, Charizard!"

Charizard burst from its PokéBall with a roar, wings outstretched and ready to fly.

"It's gonna be a heavy load, Charizard, but you don't have to go far," Misty grunted. "We just need to get away from this tower!"

With every ounce of strength she had, Misty heaved Ash forward onto Charizard's body, pushing him up so that he could ride on Charizard in front of her and she could keep him stable. A sensation of relief flooded Misty's muscles as Ash's weight was taken off of her, and she was able to mount Charizard. Pikachu jumped up, comfortably fitting between Misty and Ash's torsos.

"Everyone accounted for?" Alain shouted.

Misty looked up and noticed that everyone else, like her, had taken hold of a Pokémon. Alain had an Unfezant, whose leg he was holding onto. Not a good method for distance travel, but it would fare just fine for their escape. The giant Zygarde had disappeared and in its stead was a black and green dog on which the little girl rode, and Malva was pulling the same move as Alain with a Talonflame. All other Pokémon had been returned.

The only one standing alone was Lysandre. He had returned the Pokémon he'd been battling with, but he hadn't called on another one that could carry him to safety.

"Lysandre, hurry the fuck up!" Malva called.

However, Lysandre made no indication that he was in any rush to do anything. His face was placid and he simply stood there, looking at the city below them.

"You rejected my vision of a perfect world," Lysandre started as he walked to the end of the ledge. "All of you. I applaud you in taking my perfect dream, my perfect plan, and destroying it. Little did you know that the choice you made wasn't between a perfect world and this one. It was between a perfect world and no world at all. I hope you're pleased with yourselves. Now, let's take flight, shall we?"

Without any time to waste, Misty squeezed her legs around Charizard's middle, and with a couple mighty flaps, they were in the air. Malva and Alain too lifted a couple feet off the ledge with the aid of the Pokémon. As they all took off, and Bonnie and what must have still been Zygarde began running down the tower, Misty couldn't help but notice that without any hesitation or extra contemplation, Lysandre took one more step, and plummeted off the building.

* * *

Serena had no idea where the Flare agent was going or why she had stolen Chespie—all she knew was to run. And she was sprinting with all her might down the hallway, occasionally looking back to see that Mairin was still behind her, which she always was. Serena was taller and stronger, with better endurance, but something inside Mairin had been triggered, and that girl was running for her life. For Chespie's life.

Lost in her sole ambition, Serena was caught off-guard when the Flare agent suddenly stopped short, revealed a secret switch on the wall, and pressed it. Next thing Serena knew, a set of bars had come in from either side of the wall and met in the middle with a clang, separating the girls from the Flare agent.

"Sorry, but this area is restricted for authorized personnel only," the girl taunted, looking quite pleased with herself.

"Give Chespie back!" Serena shouted, putting her hands on the cold bars. She knew it would be a fruitless demand, but they were the only words she had.

"Good idea. Why didn't I think of that?" Sarcasm was dripping from the girl's tone. "Oh, right. Because I'm never going to do it. Instead, I suggest you girls make a hasty retreat before it's no longer an option. Buh-bye."

And she ran around a corner and vanished from sight.

Serena clenched the bars, fury radiating from her. They had been _so close_. Chespie had been in reach and then snatched right from under them.

"Braixen! Melt these bars!"

Serena tossed out Braixen's PokéBall and the Pokémon instantly began using a Flamethrower Attack on the metal. She figured a few moments of that ought to be enough to make the metal pliable.

"Now use Hidden Power!"

Braixen formed a blue sphere in her hands and fired it at the spot her flame had just been focused on. Serena had hoped that the sphere would go through, pressing the bars apart at least somewhat. But instead, the Attack dissolved, breaking around the bars without any impact.

"Darn it," Serena muttered, a seed of panic growing inside her.

That was the best idea she'd had. If Ash were around, maybe she would have been able to use water or ice on the bars along with the fire, but she didn't have any Pokémon with moves like that. And she didn't think Mairin's Bébé did either.

"Don't worry, Mairin. We'll think of something."

Serena was sure she would. They hadn't come this far for this to be the end. Surely there was some way through. The bars had come in from somewhere. So maybe there was a way to push them apart. Or some other weakness to exploit. After a moment, Serena realized that Mairin had said something that she'd missed.

"Hmm? What was that?"

"No, we won't."

Mairin was looking down at the ground, her words quiet but firm. Serena could barely make out her expression, but there was no questioning in it. In her mind, Mairin was stating a fact, not a possibility.

"Mairin? What do you mean?"

"Team Flare has a plan to take over the world. I'm sure that these bars aren't going to be their undoing," Mairin said quietly, calmly. "They're probably flame retardant and, like, locked together and too heavy to push over. I'm sure they thought of everything so that, should these need to be used, no one would get past them."

"They couldn't have thought of everything," Serena insisted. "No one can think of everything."

Mairin shook her head. "We were so close. I was so close to getting Chespie back."

"We're still going to get Chepsie back," Serena said, going to Mairin and putting a hand on her shoulder. She tried to make eye contact, but Mairin's eyes were stuck to the floor.

"I can't believe it happened again," Mairin continued, not seeming to have registered Serena's words. She pushed right past Serena and put her hands on the bars and screamed, " _Chespie_!" and the tears began anew.

* * *

The body was Meyer. Diantha realized that soon enough. It was enough to send her heart into her throat and her legs sprinting through the rubble, no longer having to worry about vines smacking at her. When she made it over to him, she fell to her knees and checked his pulse, pressing two fingers against his neck. As she felt for it, she noticed a Dedenne next to them. It took a moment for her to place that this wasn't Meyer's Dedenne; it was his daughter's. Left behind before scaling Prism Tower with the other Zygarde—Squishy. But why?

Diantha keyed back into the moment when she felt the flutter of Meyer's pulse under her touch, and the shallow movement of his ribs. He was unconscious, but alive. That, she could deal with.

"Gardevoir?"

Without another word, Gardevoir took over, crouching down next to Meyer and closing her eyes. Slowly, a bright glow softly began to grow out from Gardevoir, enveloping Meyer.

Pokémon moves didn't tend to work quite the same way on humans as they did among Pokémon, but Diantha felt confident in Gardevoir's ability. It wouldn't have the same mathematical precision as she could rely on in a Pokémon match, but it would do something. It had to.

As the glow began to recede, Diantha noticed a fluttering of Meyer's eyelids. She held her breath. Bodies in all stages could twitch—it didn't necessarily mean anything. But she kept glued on them until, eventually, they flickered open, blinking once, then twice, squinting up at her. His gaze then fell down, resting upon the little Zygarde piece still in her lap.

"Look at that," he rasped, some words carrying a low, froggy pitch and others not more than whispers. "We saved Squishy."

"This isn't Squishy," Diantha corrected. "But Squishy's fine too. This is, uh, the other Zygarde."

She didn't quite know if it was the other Zygarde itself or if it was merely _of_ the other Zygarde, but she didn't figure now was the time to be splitting hairs.

Meyer groaned as he pushed himself up, one hand going to the back of his head. Diantha guessed he was concussed from whatever had led to him being on the ground like that. Probably pretty badly concussed, depending on how long he'd been passed out for.

"It doesn't look too good," he said as he continued to look at the small bit of Zygarde. "Must be pretty tired."

Diantha nodded. So much had gone on that she hadn't managed to give the little Zygarde a proper assessment, but now that she looked, it was obvious that it had been pushed to its limit. She looked to Gardevoir again, who began another Heal Pulse, this time aimed at Zygarde.

The glow emitted for about as long as it had for Meyer, and Diantha saw Zygarde's surface wounds and scratches fade away, but its eyes remained closed without so much as a twitch.

"It doesn't seem to be breathing," Meyer commented soberly.

Diantha felt another hitch in her chest at that comment. Zygarde's body was fluid and, well, squishy. With both hands on it, she covered most of its body, but she couldn't feel any breath, or even a heartbeat.

"Oh no," she murmured, looking down at the little creature she'd been attacking. Had she taken it too far? It was a Legendary Pokémon—the strongest out there. Diantha had never even considered that she might need to go easy on it in some regard; she'd been fighting for her life.

"Wait, wait," Meyer said, probably seeing the panic rising on her face. "This Pokémon isn't mammalian. It doesn't seem to have a nose or a mouth or anything to breathe with. Unless it breathes through its skin? Some Pokémon do that, right?"

Diantha nodded, feeling a little bit of hope reenter her. "Yeah. Yeah, they do."

"Well, maybe it works like that."

"Maybe," Diantha agreed. "But that doesn't help us know what to do for the little thing."

They both pondered for a moment, looking at the Pokémon's limp form. Then Meyer snapped his fingers. "You know what Bonnie said? She said it loves the sun! The little guy's green, right? Think that might be a thing?"

"Could be," Diantha said, the idea sounding as good to her as any. "Maybe we just need to get it some sunshine."

For the first time, Dedenne began chattering, pointing to Zygarde and nodding as if confirming Meyer's hypothesis.

"Dedenne!" Meyer exclaimed. "We're right about Zygarde and the sun?"

"Ne!"

There certainly was no sun in Lumiose at the moment. The air was thick with smoke, making the world dark. It was as though the sky had become one giant gray cloud in the past few hours. Then Diantha noticed that the sky really was gray, no longer the angry red it had been earlier. Had all that color simply been a result of Zygarde's anger? And now that it had been turned back, so had the sky?

"Oh no. Where is Bonnie?" Meyer asked Dedenne, sitting up further as he craned his head around, looking for his daughter.

Dedenne pointed up, but Diantha took it upon herself to answer that question.

"She and, uh, Squishy, I guess, went up there," Diantha said, pointing to Prism Tower.

Diantha saw the moment Meyer's eyes landed on the smoke coming from Prism Tower. She, herself, had forgotten about it in her efforts to revive Meyer, and her body was reminding her that they needed to run.

"Up…there?" Meyer asked, his voice low and terrified.

Diantha nodded slowly, the terrible truth coming to her instantly. Two independent facts collided in that moment. One, the little girl was up there. And two, Diantha knew that they needed to leave. Why?

Because the tower was bound to fall.

And with a crack, it did.

* * *

There was no time to think about what had just happened. Either that, or Misty just didn't dare think about it. She tried to wipe the image from her mind of Lysandre walking off the edge, of him falling, as she flew, urging Charizard faster as though trying to outrace her thoughts.

She didn't go far. On Charizard, she could have. She had every faith that even with the weight of Ash, Pikachu, and herself on Charizard's back, it could have flown her out of the city. It would have exhausted the Pokémon, but it was possible nevertheless. But with Alain and Malva holding onto the legs of an Unfezant and Talonflame respectively, she knew that they wouldn't be able to go much farther than the base of the tower.

Misty saw Alain already descending and, against her stronger, life-preservation impulses, she told Charizard to follow him down. As Charizard softly hit the ground, Misty held on tight with her thighs, trying to think of the best way to get Ash off without having to roll him to the ground.

Alain landed first, his tired Talonflame having less control than Ash's experienced Charizard, and ran over to Misty.

"Did you see Lysandre?" Misty asked, the words tearing from her voice against her better judgement.

"Let me help you," Alain said, his expression unmoving as he pointedly ignored what she said. Knowing it was the right move, Misty followed along and the two of them eased Ash onto the ground until they could think of a better plan.

"We still have to get out of here," Misty said, looking up at the still-smoking tower.

"Where are Malva and Bonnie?" Alain asked, his voice carrying the same urgency as hers.

They spotted Malva first, who was alarmingly close still to the base of the tower. If it did fall down, there was no way it wouldn't crush her.

"Malva!" Alain shouted, immediately running toward her.

Misty glanced back at Ash, still on the ground, unmoving. She looked at Pikachu and Charizard and said, "Keep an eye on him," before running after Alain.

Alain joined Malva around a pile of rocks and Misty quickly realized that two people were barely visible, trapped inside them. Malva was shoving some aside and Alain and Misty began doing the same. The girls inside, though, weren't moving. She wasn't sure what had happened to them, but it was disconcerting.

"They're paralyzed," Malva explained as she heaved more rocks to the side. "We need to get them out of here before this thing blows."

The added context made Misty go faster. She didn't know how the girls had gotten that way, how Malva knew their condition, or anything else. All she knew was that they had to move.

Soon, the girls' torsos were visible. Then their hips, then their thighs. The benefit of paralysis as opposed to some other affliction like, say, sleep was that the girls' muscles were rigid, and they were free-standing as the rocks were quickly strewn from all around them. Malva paused in the process and reached for a PokéBall.

"My Pyroar's weak, but we don't need to get them that far. Alain, help me with Aliana."

As Alain moved confidently toward the orange-haired girl, Misty realized that, whoever these two were, Alain and Malva both knew them. But as Alain pulled the redhead, Aliana, out of her rocky cage, Misty thought that maybe she didn't want to know how they knew each other.

Alain handed the girl off to Malva and Misty, who then struggled to manipulate the girl's rigid muscles, but managed to get her on Pyroar's back, leaning over, resting on her belly.

Just as they'd done the same with the second girl, Misty heard a sound kind of like a crack. She looked up at the building and saw that the framing had become visible as the fire ate the tower from the inside out. There was a crease about halfway up the tower where you could see the split between the Gym and the tall spire that was just there for tourists to ride to the top for the best view of the city—Misty knew this from diagrams she'd seen of the beautiful building in the past. In that spot, a new plume—a light taupe color, totally different from the dark gray clouds that the fire had created—grew and Misty's heart dropped. She didn't even notice the bursts of green in the sky as she yelled, "Go!"

She and Malva were on either side of Pyroar, their hands supporting the girls to keep them from sliding off as they all began to run as fast as possible.

There was a new sound then.

The only sound Misty could equate it to was that of a waterfall. But rather than the peaceful serenity she felt whenever she heard that sound, her body was filled with the deepest terror she'd ever experienced. This could kill them all.

Risking a look over her shoulder, she saw Prism Tower, a building she had loved all her life, collapsing in on itself and becoming nothing more than a pile of debris and a cloud of smoke. At that same time, though, she saw Zygarde changing formes before her. In an instant, it went from the canine figure she'd just seen carrying the little girl, to the serpentine Pokémon she'd seen earlier. It was manipulating the vines it had been using to ravage the earth into a wall in front of the building.

And then the smoke overtook it and she couldn't see anymore.

There was no more efficient way to run with the girls and the Pyroar than what they were already doing, but Misty's adrenaline was screaming at her to run faster. She saw Alain outpacing her, running straight for where she'd left Ash, Pikachu, and Charizard. By himself, he heaved Ash back onto Charizard's back and then climbed on after. Pikachu scampered up to Charizard's neck, and Alain squeezed his legs around Charizard's middle. Without thinking whether Charizard would know to obey or not, Misty screamed, "Listen to him!"

And they took flight. Without words exchanged, Malva and Misty followed Alain as he led them down one of the avenues. The air was thick with soot, and she could barely see him, so she kept her eyes tracked solely on Charizard's tail flame. Her lungs burned as she breathed in the contaminated air, but she had to keep going.

She didn't know where to, but they had to keep going.

* * *

As soon as Squishy had erected the wall of vines to keep the group from being struck by debris, it had lowered itself in front of Bonnie, clearly urging her to hop on its back again. Bonnie did, and Squishy immediately began to follow after Alain and the rest of them, but Bonnie shouted for it to stop before it made it very far.

"We have to go back for my dad and Dedenne!"

And, as always, Squishy seemed to understand her and turned a sharp angle, beginning to head back to where they'd been originally.

It was all Bonnie could do not to cry. She was suddenly feeling very tired and just wanted this whole day to stop. Or just pause and let her take a nap before getting back to this saving the world business.

Her brother's Gym had just fallen. She'd just seen a man—a very evil, bad man, but a man she'd known nevertheless—jump off a building. She had no idea how high a person could jump and survive, but she knew enough to know what a jump off the top of Prism Tower would mean. And she refused to think about it.

Because worse than those two things was the fact that she'd left her dad and her Pokémon.

She'd left them to save him. To get help from Ash or someone. So that wasn't bad. The bad was that she'd stayed away. How long had she left him there? She had no idea. It felt like forever. Really, she had no idea what time it was, how long it had been since the vines had first broken though, if they were already past her bedtime now or not. And she _hadn't_ gotten help. She really, really wished that Clemont were there, at least to tell her what time it was. He always did that for her, even if only a few minutes had passed since the last time she'd asked.

The point was, she needed to save her dad. She hadn't succeeded in getting help, but with Squishy, she should be able to move him to where everyone else was, and then they could help her wake him up. Ash would probably have been able to come up with a better plan than that, but without him or Clemont or Serena there, the best Bonnie could do was plan to take her dad to where some bigger kids were.

Squishy stopped abruptly and Bonnie looked around, not knowing quite where they were.

"Is this where we were before?"

Squishy, by way of answering her, lowered its body to the ground again to let her down. Bonnie slid off and ran around.

This place didn't _really_ look familiar. There was just a lot of ripped up road and vines and pieces of buildings. But that also described where she'd been before. She probably just hadn't paid enough attention. But if Squishy thought this was where they'd been, then it had to be right. She trusted Squishy.

But as she ran around, there was no sign of her dad or Dedenne. Or Diantha or the other Zygarde, for that matter. Maybe they'd left when they saw the tower fall? That would make some sense.

Then a good thought came to her. Maybe her dad had woken up on his own! Maybe he'd gotten them to safety by himself! Or maybe Blaziken had helped him.

It was possible. _Anything_ was possible. But still, the good thought wasn't enough to take away the bad feeling that was in her gut. The bad feeling that told her that she'd done something wrong. But she didn't know what would have been the better thing to do. And she didn't know how to make the bad feeling go away.

But mostly, she didn't know anymore what to do about her dad.

But as the huge plume of smoke loomed, Squishy came over to her and leaned down again, nosing her when she didn't make a move to get on.

Well, there was one thing she knew. Her dad wasn't here.

So she got on Squishy's back, and then, finally, she started to cry.

* * *

"Are you finding anything?"

"I'm not sure."

"Then let's keep looking."

Professor Sycamore was looking at the dizzying amount of information on the screen, scanning the words as quickly as possible whilst doing his best to leave no stone unturned. Anything might be important. But, apparently, Lysandre Labs had been around for years, and they had collected a lot of data over that time. Most of which was not relevant to the problem at hand at all.

Lysandre was a doctor, this Professor Sycamore knew. So there were a lot of medical documents, records of studies done, even old files of patient info and procedures. That was easy enough to skip past, but the rest took a bit more thought.

Then a few files on Mega-Evolution began flying by. Professor Sycamore wasn't sure if they'd be relevant or not. With that many files on it, though, Professor Sycamore got the feeling that it was important. But he was wise enough to know that he could just be projecting his own interest in Mega-Evolution onto the situation—and now certainly wasn't the time to be following his own whims.

He would just scan through the files quickly and see if there was anything outstanding.

The first thing that became immediately obvious was that Team Flare had completely surpassed him on research on the subject. Not even surpassed. _Eclipsed_. At first, he had no idea how it could have happened. He'd devoted his life to studying Pokémon Mega-Evolution. But the answer came to him quickly and quietly—a thought that he'd rather had stayed away.

They must have been willing to do experiments that he would never do.

Professor Sycamore thought of Zygarde, its obvious transformation and mind-control; clearly Team Flare didn't care how far they had to go to accomplish their goal.

But he found himself getting sucked into the documents. Mega-Evolution was accomplished by way of an energy—this much Professor Sycamore already knew—but not all the energy was within the Pokémon. With the use of outside items—the stones, mostly—there was energy in the space in between as well. Somehow, Team Flare had developed the technology to collect and store this energy.

Well, that was a huge discovery. Pokémon were conduits for all kinds of different energies that scientists were always trying to harness. And Team Flare wasn't the first group of misguided people to use one for evil. Under different circumstances, this would be the discovery of the year. Now it would probably be years before the technology could be researched without the tarnish of Team Flare's doings damaging funding for projects. If they ever even got out of this mess, that was.

"Hold on, I'm finding something."

"What?" Professor Sycamore asked.

"I did a search for C-H-E-S-P-I—that way searches for Chespie and Chespin would come up—and I have some records. Initial analysis of condition, okay, okay, yeah…um, okay…"

Professor Sycamore waited on pins and needles as Steven scrolled through the data.

"Okay," Steven said a little more strongly that time. "This makes so much sense. No wonder Nurse Joy couldn't do anything and—oh man, no wonder—"

"What is it, Steven?"

"Chespie was hit with a very potent dose of Mega-Evolution energy. It doesn't say how it happened, but it's probably safe to assume it was a mistake. But of course a Pokémon like Chespin isn't meant to carry even a small amount of energy, much less something like this. Do you know what the effects would be for something like this, Professor?"

"I can't say I do. My research has only extended to Pokémon meant to Mega-Evolve, outside of Ash's Greninja, of course. This is a very unique case indeed."

"Then we still don't know how to heal it…it doesn't seem that they do either. Of course, now we know that they were probably never looking to…"

As Steven trailed off, Professor Sycamore continued looking through his documents. He was tempted to abandon his current search in lieu of finding more information on Chespie, but he and Steven overlapping at all would be a waste of time. So he continued scrolling.

He was quickly able to see which documents were about the energy, collecting it, and harnessing it. For a moment, he mourned the fact that he'd probably never be able to read all this research. Heinous though it was, it would be fascinating to study. But then he spotted documents about Zygarde: Z1 and Z2.

That was important information about the dilemma they were in. If they could know how the energy interacted with Zygarde, they might be able to figure out how to reverse it and end Team Flare's reign before it started. He clicked on the most recent document to open it, and found it read like a diary entry.

_We believe that we have solidified our access to Z2's strongest forme. With enough cells present, we can force Z2 to bypass the canine stage and enter the stronger serpent stage with enough Mega-Evolution energy. It takes about 75 units to cause this stage to hold, locking Z2 under our control. At least 2 backup sets are needed in the unlikelihood that it or Z1 break out of our control. We are currently at 3/4._

_Xerosic's modifications to the Giant Rock are finished. The preparations are complete._

That addendum at the bottom shook Professor Sycamore as he looked through his screen to the object in front of him. What of the Giant Rock? Was it somehow powering what was happening in Lumiose from afar? He had no idea, but suddenly he had to know. He began a new search for the Giant Rock and clicked on the first document that came up.

_The hypothesis that the Giant Rock is made of Mega-Evolution energy has been disproven. Through a series of tests using the samples from Groudon, Kyogre, and Rayquaza, we have discovered that the Giant Rock contains ancient Primal Reversion energy in incredibly high amounts. Technology is currently being created by Xerosic and the girls in which to measure the approximate units in relation to Mega-Evolution energy._

Professor Sycamore's eyes glazed for a moment as he thought about that. His knowledge base on Primal Reversion energy was surprisingly small. He knew of its existence and difference from Mega-Evolution energy, but he hadn't known it was—or even _could_ be—captured in a rock. He was about to continue reading when a bright ding sounded and the telltale _whoosh_ of the elevator door sliding open interrupted him from the screen.

"Prism Tower has fallen, Z1 and Z2 have reverted. I am enacting plan B. Repeat, enacting plan B."

In just that split second, Professor Sycamore's mind became a whirlwind of new information all tumbling over one another. The girl who stepped off the elevator looked very similar to the two he'd fought at the foot of Prism Tower. Prism Tower…which had just fallen? But what about Clemont, Bonnie, Meyer, and anyone else who might have still been around? What of them? But amidst all that, the word that left his lips was:

"Chespie?"

Steven was one step ahead of him. "No!" he cried out as the Flare girl ran over to the computer as well, Chespie under one arm. He ran over to her, but she didn't hesitate, lifting a leg and giving him a hard kick in the stomach. Steven fell back, giving her enough time to smash the glass case over a button in the middle of the keyboard. Professor Sycamore hadn't even noticed it.

"Hey, what are you doing?" he shouted as he too ran over to her.

But it was too late. As she pressed the button, the glass casing around the Giant Rock sunk, leaving it exposed. He could only watch as Chespie's body, glowing an ominous blue, brightened to red, and he began to float out of the girl's arms. He tried to reach for the Pokémon, but it was out of reach, too high in the air for him to grasp. Then its body made contact with the rock, and slowly, it was sucked in.

"What's going on?" he asked again.

"I'm going to give you some free advice," the girl said. "Get the hell out. You'll only be delaying the inevitable, but still. Get the hell out of here." She ran back to the elevator and pressed the button for it to open. "Joining me? No? Good luck, then."

Before Professor Sycamore could respond, she'd gotten in, pressed the button to close the door, and vanished as quickly as she'd come.

By then, Steven had made it to his knees, but was clutching his stomach. She'd hit him hard, and Professor Sycamore wondered if she had broken any ribs or caused any internal bleeding. He ran over to Steven and helped him up the rest of the way.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Okay enough." Steven winced as he struggled to stand up straight.

"What do you think she meant by that?"

"By what?"

"What she said. Her 'free advice'," Professor Sycamore elaborated. "What do you think she meant?"

Steven didn't get the chance to answer, though, as both of their eyes were drawn back towards the Giant Rock, which was glowing even brighter. But stranger than that, it seemed to be growing, morphing in shape as sharp-edged clusters began to multiply across the surface. Chespie was no longer visible, having been completely absorbed by the rock.

"I think that's what she meant," Steven said as the Giant Rock began to crack through the computer system, sparks flying and wire snapping. He reached for a PokéBall and shouted, "Metagross, go!"

Steven reached out towards Metagross and, quicker than Professor Sycamore had ever seen, Metagross Mega-Evolved. Then, Steven was jumping onto one side of Mega Metagross's body and gesturing to Professor Sycamore to do the same.

"Hop on. We don't have much time!"

And as the Giant Rock tore apart the room behind them, Steven directed Mega Metagross full speed into the metal wall. Metagross's hard body tore through it with an ear-splitting screech, and, just like that, the three of them were ejected into the night sky while the building behind them began to fall apart.

* * *


	7. Running

The next thing Meyer knew, Diantha was clamping a sweaty hand around his wrist and turning to her Gardevoir. In a moment, a strange glow entered Meyer's view, and then began to take over him. His own skin was glowing in the midst of this dusty hellscape. Then, with a flash, they were somewhere else.

When they landed, Meyer began screaming.

"What did you do? Where are we? Where are my kids? Diantha, where are my _kids_?"

"Shh, Meyer, it's—"

"Where _are_ they?"

"I'm sure that—"

" _Where are they_?"

"It'll be okay, Meyer!"

"No! No, you don't have kids—this is not okay! This is the _opposite_ of okay!"

"I know that! Okay? I know that!" Diantha shouted, her volume rising to Meyer's level. "Look, if there's one thing I know about those kids, it's that they get out of scrapes. Right? Besides, they seem to have Zygarde on their side, and that Zygarde seems to love your little girl. So I'm sure they'll be fine. Okay? Breathe."

Meyer didn't say anything. He knew he was glaring up at her, probably holding some resentment in his eyes, but he did take a moment to breathe. He rubbed his hands over his face, wiping away the tears that were forming before they got the chance to fall. Into muffled hands he said, "Was Bonnie okay when you saw her? Do you know why she was scaling the tower or… _anything_?"

Diantha was studying him. She stared him down for a moment as she returned Gardevoir to her PokéBall before she said, "I don't know. I think she looked okay, but I was focused on the other Zygarde."

That wasn't enough. Meyer pursed his lips together, feeling his teeth digging in on either side. It was the only way he could keep his face from crumpling altogether. He looked to Dedenne. The Pokémon watched him with wide, innocent eyes. It probably hadn't seen anything bad happen to Bonnie, otherwise it wouldn't look like that.

"Please, let me go back. You can teleport, right? So we can just pop into where they are and pop back with them, right? Right? And then come back here for whatever you need. Anything you need. This will just take a second. _Please_ , Diantha, I'm begging you."

The fact that she was letting him ramble on and hadn't immediately agreed left Meyer ready to beg a thousand more times. He could convince her, right? It wasn't a lot that he was asking of her. Just check on the kids for a second. Just a millisecond and then they could get back to saving the world. Surely a millisecond wouldn't be the difference between life and death here. She could see that, right?

"I'm sorry, we can't," Diantha replied, much too quickly for Meyer's liking. She hadn't even considered it. "It wouldn't be like that. The tower just fell. I'm sure your kids ran for it, so they could be anywhere. We'd have to hunt them down and that's just not something we can afford to do right now."

"But—"

"Meyer, no buts. I'm sorry you don't know where your kids are, but surely you can remember the big picture here, right?" Diantha said, her slight patronizing tone not going over Meyer's head. "Zygarde is said to watch over Kalos so it can restore order when order is disrupted. And I'm the Champion of Kalos, so I must save this Pokémon. You can help or not, but the sun is setting and we don't have much time."

Meyer liked Diantha. Of course, he didn't really know her personally, but as Champion, she was well-liked by just about anyone, except perhaps the pundits who didn't approve of her being an actress. But the second she sees him calm she forgets about his kids? She was manipulating under the guise of comforting him. And it filled him with a low, bubbling rage.

But even if he didn't like how she was going about this—God, he hoped that she wasn't often called upon to comfort grieving families—he had to admit the truth in her words, calculating though they were. All he could really do in this moment was continue trying to save the world, if only to maintain his cracking sanity.

Meyer realized that he had taken Dedenne in his lap and was stroking it lazily—a comforting, mindless gesture. But it was almost like holding Dedenne made him feel closer to his daughter. He looked at Zygarde in Diantha's arms. Its color was dull, and it seemed totally out of it. Well, if he couldn't do anything for his kids at the moment, at least he could do what Bonnie would want of him. He was a Trainer too, after all. It wasn't in him to leave a Pokémon in that kind of condition.

"Bonnie would be very, very disappointed in me if I didn't."

"Okay, then. Let's give this a shot."

Diantha bent down and put the small Zygarde on the rock they were standing on. Meyer took that moment to look around; it seemed as though that Gardevoir had teleported them to a cliff outside the city. For the first time, he noticed that the vines that they'd been fighting against had grown out past Lumiose, but they appeared to have stopped. That must have been a byproduct of both Zygarde breaking through their mind control. And if he looked to the side, he could see the dark cloud marring the sky where earlier that day he would have been able to see Lumiose's skyline alit with orange and pink. It was close to sunset, right?

Fortunately, the sun was still bright on top of the cliff, for the moment, and Meyer could feel its warmth on the dark stone. This little bit of Zygarde looked especially tiny on the rock. It looked almost flat, as though it had collapsed into the cliff. As if it had deflated.

"Come on, little guy," Meyer said, moving to his knees beside Zygarde. "Pull through."

Dedenne danced off Meyer's lap and began circling around Zygarde, giving little chatters of encouragement. Meyer wasn't sure Zygarde could hear them, but it certainly couldn't hurt. Dedenne seemed to have the same happy-go-lucky attitude that Bonnie did, and it brought a sad smile to his face.

"Look at that."

They both watched as the little blue spot on Zygarde's back became just the tiniest bit brighter.

For a moment, there was quiet as they watched the Pokémon begin to recover. It almost felt like a speck of relief in the midst of the worst day of Meyer's life since his wife had died. Then Diantha's phone rang. Her hand reflexively went to her wrist, but the noise didn't stop. She must have been receiving all of the calls, messages, and notifications she'd been missing for the past many hours.

"I guess we're back in a service zone," Meyer said wryly.

"Guess so," Diantha replied absently as she tapped the touch screen.

"Anything of note?"

A tiny, ridiculous part of Meyer hoped that she might have received some random message informing her of Clemont and Bonnie's safety. Clemont was the Gym Leader after all; he was an important person. But, really, he knew that she wouldn't have any messages like that. If against all odds she did, Meyer was certain they wouldn't contain good news.

"Uh, yeah, I guess." Really, Meyer didn't know what qualified as important for someone as elite as Diantha. Calls and emails from important figures across the world probably weren't anything unusual for her as Champion. Maybe she realized that, because she began to summarize, "Cynthia, Lance, Alder, wow, lots of messages from Charlene."

"Who's Charlene?"

"Olympia's second in command."

"Why would she be calling you?"

"I don't know…" Diantha clicked on the name for more information. "All of these calls are after the attack began, so it's not a prediction."

"Unless she's predicting something else."

"Okay, okay, I'm going to read them."

Meyer watched as Diantha scanned through some of the messages. On TV, he was used to seeing her with a smooth, youthful face, but here, in person, he saw something different. Her usually imperceptible makeup had become visible, sinking into her pores and shiny with sweat. Her brows were furrowed as she looked at her Xtransceiver, revealing well-worn lines on her forehead. She was still a beautiful woman, but she no longer looked like a movie star. She was just a person. Also having one of the worst days of her life.

"What did she say?"

"Protect the sundial," Diantha answered blankly. "Why should I be worried about the sundial at a time like this?"

Then, suddenly, he heard a sound. A sound that screamed of destruction.

"What was that?" Diantha asked, whipping her head around. She didn't need an answer, though, as they both spotted a new plume of smoke arising in the distance. "Damn, not again."

The sound continued, a rumble growing from the spot where the dark smoke was billowing. Then, before Meyer's eyes, the building collapsed, and the cloud began…moving.

"That can't be good," he said.

"I should go investigate," Diantha stated as she reached for Gardevoir's PokéBall again. "Are you okay? I don't want to leave you stranded here."

Meyer looked down at Zygarde, who was still flat on the ground, hopefully soaking up the sun, and Dedenne, looking up at him, ears perked. Then he looked at Diantha. Diantha who knew his kids, but had dragged him away from any possibility of finding them. Anytime soon, at least. She'd planted him on a rock, kilometers out from the city, and was going to leave him there with an incapacitated Legendary to babysit. But—he tried to remind himself again—she was just a person. A person with too much responsibility today, just trying her best. He bit his tongue.

"Well, someone needs to watch this guy." He looked at the ground where Zygarde lay and then to Dedenne. "We'll figure it out."

* * *

Misty's eyes were burning, tears streaking down her face when she, Malva and Pyroar just about ran straight into a set of stairs. They stopped abruptly, but seeing as the tail flame was still in front of them, they carefully maneuvered up the steps.

The smoke had followed them there, but it was thinner, and soon she could see Alain himself, completely gray with ash as he tugged on a door, then began to root through a potted plant. Before Misty could ask what he was doing, he had already pulled out a key and turned the lock.

He ushered everyone in, and they quickly did so. In came Misty, Malva and Pyroar, and Charizard carried Ash and Pikachu in by himself. Pikachu jumped down and shook some of the ash off, only for more to blow onto his fur. Alain slipped in and shut the door before any more dirty air could make its way in with them, and he breathed a wheezy sigh of relief, soot falling from his body as he did so.

Misty couldn't say that she had any idea where Alain had led them. All this front room provided her with was an open hall with nothing more than some bookcases and a grand staircase. And a velvety red rug, now very much covered in ash. Aside from the ash, everything was rich in color—jewel-tones, from the carpet to the sapphire walls to the emerald floor tiles and the gold trim all around. It was exactly the kind of opulence she might have expected from Lumiose City.

"Where are we?" she couldn't help asking.

"Professor Sycamore's lab," Alain answered.

It didn't look like any lab Misty had ever seen. Certainly nothing like Professor Oak's, or even Professors Ivy or Elm's. There was no sign that a lab of any sort was deeper in the building. The bookshelves were probably the only hint—Misty could imagine that they were filled with scientific tomes on Pokémon.

But there was space, and their group immediately spread out. Malva went to one side with the two Flare girls, while she and Alain stood separately. The little girl was mysteriously missing. Misty instantly thought about raising a concern about that, but then she remembered that the girl had a Legendary Pokémon with her. A Legendary who would probably be more help than a rag-tag group of humans in this dust storm. So, for the moment, everyone just took care to return their Pokémon and turn their attention to those in need. Then Misty heard someone cry out, "Ash!"

Someone came running—albeit unsteadily—out from deeper in the lab, and went straight for Ash, first with an expression of relief, then of grave concern. The boy had butter-blond hair, much like the little girl's.

"What happened to him?" the boy asked no one in particular as he helped Charizard lay Ash on the ground. Pikachu paced nervously around his head.

"Probably exhaustion, I guess," Misty answered as she gave Charizard a pat on the back and returned it to its PokéBall.

Only a moment after that, Alain asked, "Clemont, how did you get in here?"

The boy, Clemont, stood up and said, "I thought we might find ourselves in a situation like this, so I made this." He pulled out a key.

"You predicted a situation like this?" Misty asked suspiciously.

"Well, not exactly. It's a universal key, though, so it would have worked for a lot of situations." Clemont turned back to Alain. "Hey…have you seen Bonnie?"

Alain hesitated for a second, eyes darting to Misty, who met them for a second before turning her attention to Ash. Then he said slowly, "…Actually, she was just with us. I'm not quite sure where she went."

"What‽" Clemont exclaimed. "Y-You just, just _lost_ her?"

"Clemont," Alain said firmly, "there's a dust storm outside—we can't see anything. And she's with Zygarde, okay? Squishy? She's gonna be fine. And if you're thinking about going to look for her, just don't. If they haven't found shelter, then Zygarde can just, I don't know, create a shelter out of vines. Zygarde won't let anything happen to her."

Clemont seemed ready to start arguing with Alain, but deflated quickly. "I suppose I can see the logic in that," he said quietly. He could barely get the words out before he began to cry. Then he glanced behind him, finally seeming to notice Malva and the two other Flare girls and only cried harder.

"Seriously?" Malva groaned, rolling her eyes. She turned away as though she couldn't bear looking at Clemont's dramatic display.

Just then, the sound of frantic knocking pulled everyone out of what they were doing. Clemont was the one who rushed to the door and opened it, revealing two ash-covered figures, grayed out beyond recognition. At least to Misty. Clemont, however, didn't hesitate to slam into the little girl with the tightest hug that Misty had ever seen as he cried out, "Bonnie!"

"Big brother!"

Alain, meanwhile, also ran over to the door to quickly shut it closed again, but already the air in the hall was thick with dust, and everyone had a fresh layer covering them. There was even more when the second figure shook itself off, sending a fresh plume into the air while revealing itself to be Zygarde in its canine forme.

"Clemont, I don't know where dad is," Bonnie cried, tears making clean streaks on her face, revealing pink skin underneath all the ash. "And I left Dedenne with him."

"I'm sure they're fine," Clemont responded, patting some of the ash off of Bonnie's body. "Dad's a superhero, remember?"

Bonnie nodded but continued to sniffle and whimper.

"Let's move farther in," Alain wheezed between coughs, trying to fan the ash from the air in front of his face.

Misty couldn't argue with that as she and Alain bent over to lift Ash again and carry him with them, Pikachu trailing after them. Alain led the way, choosing one of the hallways—she was grateful he hadn't gone for the stairs—and bringing them down it. Soon, they made it to a room that looked more like what she'd expect out of a professor's lab. This room had more books and a couple couches, but also many screens on the wall that were all black. Misty was just realizing that perhaps Lumiose City was out of power—not that that should be surprising. The room also had a large window showing another room that had a bed in the middle. Probably the room that injured or sick Pokémon were taken to in order to be treated.

She and Alain brought Ash to one of the sofas to lay him down—Misty was grateful that they now had something better than an admittedly nice carpet to place him on. She knelt in front of him, finally able to take a good look. It was ironic, seeing him live up to his namesake, as he was covered head to toe in ash. She put a hand on his ribs, checking to see if he was breathing. It was shallow, but he was. But beside that, she didn't know what was next to do. Brock had always been the one to know about medicine, not her. Maybe she knew enough to get by with Pokémon, but certainly not with humans.

"Thanks for the help," Malva groaned, drawing Misty's attention to her. Misty saw that one of the Flare girls—she had no idea who was who—was thrown over Malva's shoulder. Clemont, Bonnie, and Zygarde were struggling with the other. Alain quickly rushed over to help place the two girls in sitting positions on the couch opposite to Ash's. Their butts were scooted forward on the cushions and their backs pushed against the backrest, both with their arms tied behind them. It hardly looked comfortable, but Misty supposed that was as good as it got for two paralyzed girls.

"Okay," Clemont huffed. "There's nothing to be done about them right now. Their bodies will continue to wake up slowly but surely. Let's see what we can do about Ash."

Misty moved over to make room for Clemont next to her, kneeling in front of the couch.

"So, exhaustion, you say?"

"I guess?" Misty answered again. "I'm not sure exactly, but his body has been through a lot. He just passed out."

"It was Greninja!" Bonnie piped up, scooting next to Clemont, pressing her side up against his. "He was Ash-Greninja, but he couldn't control it."

"Is Greninja like this too?" Clemont asked, looking to Misty. He said it with familiarity and Misty was not surprised to figure that this boy, like all these other strangers, seemed to know Ash really well.

She took Greninja's PokéBall out and ran her fingers over it. Her dusty fingers left streaks on the previously pristine PokéBall. For a boy who didn't have much care for things, Ash had always made sure his Badges and 'Balls were perfectly polished.

"Yeah," she answered. "Passed out. Fainted."

"I'm sure Professor Sycamore has something we could heal it with," Bonnie offered. "Potions or maybe some machine?"

Clemont shook his head. "No electricity. Usually I'd try and maybe hook up our Electric Types to the machinery, but equipment like that would take more than any of my Pokémon have to give right now. Even at top strength, it would be asking a lot."

"Pika chu," Pikachu offered, sparks immitting from his cheeks to remind everyone of what he could do.

Misty patted his head. "I'm not sure you would have what we need by yourself either right now, Pikachu."

"Cha," Pikachu whined, ears falling as though admitting defeat.

"There's no generator here?" Clemont asked.

"No." Alain had sat down on the coffee table, evidently taking a load off. "No, there isn't."

"What?" Misty asked. "That's crazy. Every Pokémon Professor has that kind of technology."

He shook his head. "It's an old building. This lab is literally right across the street from a Pokémon Center, which does have a generator. The only thing the professor would need a generator for would maybe be for his research, but all of his programs autosave. Blackouts aren't much of a threat to his way of life here. Usually. And no potions either, unless he's changed things around here."

"Well, we can't go back out there to the Pokémon Center!" Bonnie cried.

"I will," Misty offered, standing up. "It's just across the street, right? I can take a few more minutes outside."

"But can he?" Alain shot back.

"No need!" Clemont said, suddenly rifling through his bag. "Malva—" he shot a look over at the Elite, who had been oddly quiet throughout the whole exchange, "—gave me this."

Clemont pulled out a Full Restore.

"Release Greninja. If I use this, both it and Ash should feel better."

"Okay," Misty said, pressing the button to release Greninja from its Ball.

In a bright flash, they all saw Greninja appear on the floor, body strewn as though it had just been knocked down in Battle. If it had recovered in its 'Ball at all, it hadn't been much.

"Quick, Clemont," Bonnie urged.

Clemont took the potion in his hand and sprayed it all over Greninja's battered body. Everyone watched with bated breath as the Pokémon continued to lie there, showing no signs of life but its weak breathing. After a few disheartening moments, its eyes began to twitch a little, then slowly peeled open one at a time.

"It needs water!" Bonnie said.

Misty had to agree. Every Water Type needed more water than the average Pokémon or human did, and she knew for a fact that Greninja hadn't had any access to Water in hours. And it had been expelling water-based Attacks with abandon. Now that she was looking, she was ashamed to note that she hadn't seen how dry its skin was. Greninja was amphibious; its skin was always supposed to be moist.

Alain disappeared for a minute and came back with a pitcher and a stack of cups.

"I think we _all_ need water," he explained.

No one argued as they all reached for the cups and filled them one by one. It was impossible to drink without getting soot into the water, but they all gulped their shares thirstily anyway. Bonnie took her cup and carefully put it to Greninja's lips, spilling a few droplets in.

Greninja managed a few rough swallows, and it gave a raspy hack as it did.

Then they heard a human cough beside them. Misty was the first to go to him, dropping to her knees again and putting her hand to his jaw. "Ash?"

He gave another cough and rolled a little, dust falling off his face as he did.

"Pikapi?" Pikachu asked, standing on the other side of his face.

Ash's lips moved, and Misty could barely make out that he said, "Pikachu?" The only audible part was the 'ch;' his throat was too dry to produce anything else.

Misty reached for the water and lifted Ash's torso onto a pillow so that he was somewhat sitting up. She raised a cup to his lips and gave him a sip. He drank eagerly and when he was done, he opened his eyes. They pierced through her as he rasped, "Misty? What are you—"

He dissolved into hacking coughs and Misty said, "Don't. Yeah, I'm here." Against everything, she smiled. "It's quite a mess you've gotten yourself into this time."

He gave a little chuckle at that, then his eyes began to dart around wildly. "What happened? Is Greninja okay? Where are Alain and Lysandre?"

Clemont began to say, "Greninja's right—" but Malva cut him off.

"Lysandre fucking killed himself."

That was enough to send Ash upright, crying out, "What‽" before grabbing his head and groaning.

"Don't overdo it, Ash," Misty implored as she rubbed his arm soothingly. "You've been through a lot."

"Wait, what is she talking about?" Clemont asked the room.

"Lysandre jumped off Prism Tower," Alain answered quietly.

"Oh," Clemont intoned with surprising cheer. "He would have survived that. See, I installed these nets…"

Clemont's voice left him and the words trailed off into nothing. His eyes widened and a hand flew to his mouth as he began to shake his head, as if in disbelief.

"What's wrong, big brother?" Bonnie asked.

"I used the net system myself. If they were still in place for me, that means that Lysandre must have…after I'd already used them. Which means—"

"That he killed himself," Malva said harshly. "Sorry, blondie, we already know that."

"God, I could have died!" Clemont exclaimed.

"But you didn't," Misty said firmly but gently. "It's okay."

"But still…I should have put something in place…" Again, Clemont trailed off, but this time he looked at all of the people in front of him, seeming to calculate something. "Wait, you said he was on top of Prism Tower?"

"That's right," Alain confirmed.

"But…you guys—you weren't there too, were you?"

"That's where we just came from," Bonnie said. "Because Prism Tower exploded while we were on top of it."

"Oh, no," Clemont moaned. "No, no, no, no, no."

"Clemont?" Bonnie asked, her voice wavering with a dose of uncertainty this time.

"I did it. I made the call to destroy the tower. I-I-I could have…I could have killed all of you! I could have killed my sister! My best friend! No, no, no, no, no—"

"Hey," Alain interrupted, putting his hands on Clemont's shoulders, forcing him to look him in the eye. "We made it. You didn't kill anyone. Lysandre's intentions were his intentions and yours were yours. You made the right call. Right now, we have more important things to worry about than what _could_ have happened."

"Saying stuff like that won't help," Bonnie snapped, pushing Alain away from Clemont, who was still moaning and mumbling to himself, wheezing for air. "This isn't logic-Clemont right now, this is sad-Clemont."

"This has happened before?" Misty asked softly, bending down to Bonnie's level.

"Yes," Bonnie said firmly. "It's called a panic attack."

Misty nodded. "And do you know what helps your brother most when this happens?"

"Just stay with him and help him breathe," Bonnie explained. "Right, big brother? Breathe. Breathe. Wanna count?"

Clemont nodded.

"Okay. One, two, three, four…"

Misty was impressed by what she was seeing from the little girl. She thought back to who she'd been ten years ago and didn't think that she would have been capable of the maturity that Bonnie seemed already to know. It felt strange to trust a child with the wellbeing of a young adult, but she was already doing a better job than Misty herself could have done. So she turned back to Alain, whose patience was waning.

"We have to regroup and get back to worrying about what's happening right now."

"What _is_ happening now?"

It was Ash who had spoken. He was already looking stronger than he had moments ago. He had pushed himself up to resting on his elbows and was looking back and forth between Clemont and Misty with worry.

"Plan B is what's happening."

Everyone turned and looked as Xerosic and two Team Flare grunts emerged slowly and shakily from deeper in the lab.

"What are you doing here?" Alain, Malva, and Ash asked in unison. Before they got an answer, though, Squishy lunged, knocking Xerosic to the ground.

"Squishy, no!" Bonnie shouted.

Xerosic scrambled, trying to get out from under Squishy's paws and open—but not biting—maw. But his movements were slow and halting. He didn't have to fight for long, though, as Bonnie ran over and tried to pull Squishy back. Squishy didn't need much persuasion to follow Bonnie's wishes and pull back off of Xerosic, but it began to circle him, eyes never leaving his spot on the floor.

"Heh, nice of you to remember me, Z1," Xerosic said unevenly as he brushed himself off and struggled to stand up. When he couldn't, Bonnie helped him, followed by Clemont, who led him to lean against a couch.

"I'm happy you're awake," Clemont stated, though his voice was flat and expressionless as he stepped away from Xerosic.

Clemont's eyes were dull and his face had a new exhaustion to it, but it seemed as though Bonnie had managed to bring him back from the brink. Misty had no idea what might still be running through his mind, but Clemont seemed to be doing what he could to overcome it.

"Ah, yes. Well played, Clemont of the Lumiose City Gym. Well played. Your Luxray is strong." Then he looked over at the two Flare girls on the couch. "Aliana, Bryony, glad to know your part of the plan went so swimmingly."

"F-Fu you, Xer…ic," one of the two girls stuttered out.

"Looks like the paralysis is finally wearing off," Malva said. "That was a strong dose you gave them, Clemont. Can I assume that's also why Xerosic and his lackeys look like someone who's shit their pants trying to keep it contained in their underwear?"

"Yes, well, since I can still form sentences more cogent than yours, Malva, and I know my physique didn't save me—"

"Your insulation might have dulled it."

"—I have to assume that I was hit with a smaller dose."

"Clemont?" Ash asked, looking at the boy in disbelief.

Clemont pressed his hands against his eyes and started taking deep breaths again. Misty didn't know what might have happened between Clemont and the Flare girls, but she thought it was suffice to say, "You've missed a lot, Ash."

"Yes, actually, I think we've _all_ missed a lot," Malva said, looking to Xerosic. "What is Plan B?"

"Something that only those most privy to the goings on in Team Flare know," Xerosic replied, a stupid grin on his face. "Meaning, not you, not them," gesturing jerkily behind him to the grunts who were now seated on the floor, "and certainly not him," he finished, pointing to Alain.

"And-d you'll n…ver know wah-what it is," the other Flare girl taunted.

"Oh, they'll know," Xerosic said. "Because I'm going to tell them right now."

Twin grunts made their ways out of Aliana and Bryony's mouths as they did their best to turn to Xerosic. Everyone else, meanwhile, looked at him in rapt interest, waiting to hear more.

"It's a plan to wipe everyone out. Everyone—people, Pokémon—bam, gone, kaplooey. Maybe some of the most robust species can survive, but we squishy humans definitely aren't gonna make it. You said Lysandre killed himself?" he asked, turning to Malva, who didn't respond. "That's why. He wanted to do it himself the quick and easy way, rather than wait for his own plan to smother him alive."

There was a beat of silence, then Misty asked, "Why are you telling us this?"

"Because that is not the plan I signed up for. These girls," he thumbed towards Aliana and Bryony, "evidently are on board, and I bet that one of their sisters has already jump-started the process, but not me. I wanted a new world. Plan A. Not no world. That's no fun for me."

"So you think that Celosia or Mable have already started this potential end of the world," Alain summarized. "What can we do about that?"

"You let me help you."

* * *

Serena noticed the noises and the vibrations at about the same time. Surely one of them had reached her senses first, but she hadn't been quick to notice either. Now there was a distinct rumbling and a light shaking and if Serena knew anything, she knew they had to get out of there.

"Mairin?" She got no response; the girl was still crying. She tried again, more desperate this time: "Mairin, we've gotta get out of here. It feels like the building might collapse. Come on!"

Mairn just shook her head—Serena didn't know if that meant she'd been heard or not. But either way, they didn't have time for this. Serena bent over and put both hands in Mairin's armpits, lifting her up, and aligning the two of them face to face.

"Mairin," she started, taking on a firmer voice. "It's not safe to be here anymore. Now, you're the one who knows the layout of this place, so I need you to get it together and lead the way. Can you do that? For Chespie. You can't help Chespie if you're not alive. So get us out of here."

"I can't."

"You can," Serena insisted. "You know the way and you still have your two feet under you. You can still save, Mairin. You can save _us_."

Serena could practically see the thoughts poisoning Mairin's mind. She hadn't been able to rescue Chepsie. Twice now, she'd felt as though she'd failed in the biggest way a Trainer could. She couldn't be trusted.

But that wasn't true. It was obvious to Serena that Mairin had a big heart in the same way that Ash did. And that heart always found its way to the right thing. To turning a bad situation around.

"Save us, Mairin," she repeated.

Slowly, Mairin gave a nod. She took a step and Serena's hands fell away, no longer needed to keep her upright. It wasn't the victory Mairin had been looking for, but it was one nevertheless. She began leading them down the hallway back the way they'd come, away from the gate that blocked their path.

"This way."

* * *

When Prism Tower came down, it brought a huge cloud of debris along with it. As this cloud descended on Lumiose, it didn't dissipate and turn to nothing—it just spread, solid, opaque, and growing. And despite all the smoke Shauna, Tierno, Trevor, and Sawyer had already breathed in that day, this was the one where everything in them screamed: _run_.

Away was the first direction. Then they had to come up with a plan.

"The Pokémon Center!" Shauna cried out. "If anyplace still has electricity, it'll be there, because there's a generator!"

"Sounds like the best option to me," Tierno puffed in agreement. "Let's do it."

"The one on South Boulevard, to get farthest away from the smoke!" Trevor added.

Going all the way to South Boulevard meant running a long way, something their bodies weren't prepared for after a long afternoon of running and heavy lifting, all on virtually no food or water. And as the air became thicker with dust and toxins, their lungs all screamed in protest.

There was little choice, though. Many of the buildings around them had already been punctured by vines and couldn't guarantee refuge from the incoming cloud of smoke. The Pokémon Center, at the very least, had dozens of rooms, at least a few of which were probably relatively sealed and secure, especially now that the vines had essentially frozen. Plus, it was on the outer edge of the city where, from what they'd noticed, there had been less activity. All the more reason to go to that one rather than the one in Magenta Plaza.

The problem was: they were tired. Their bodies had already expelled so much adrenaline that day, and the past couple of hours had been spent running on fumes. This last big physical exertion was quickly taking its toll.

Tierno began to fall behind, followed soon after by Trevor. Shauna was in the front, Sawyer behind her, but they all were slowing down fast. Furthermore, the smoke was gaining on them.

"Guys!" Tierno shouted. "I'm not going to make it!"

"Flying…Pokémon!" Shauna huffed out as she continued running.

Shauna knew that neither she nor Tierno had any Flying Pokémon—but Sawyer and Trevor did. Everyone halted, panting for breath as Sawyer and Trevor released their Pokémon: A Salamance, Aerodactyl, and Charizard. Three. For the four of them.

"Okay, we can do this!" Trevor said. "Shauna, you and me on Charizard, Sawyer on Aerodactyl, and Salamence with Tierno, okay?"

Everyone went to their respective Pokémon and climbed on. None of them had experience flying, so they all scrambled a little bit, kicking the Pokémon and struggling for purchase.

Shauna, Tierno, and Trevor's Pokémon all knew each other and each other's Trainers really well. They were always battling together whenever they met up, and often traveled together. But they'd only just recently befriended Sawyer, and his Salamence wasn't taking too well to a stranger climbing up on it.

"Sawyer!" Tierno called as he struggled to get atop Salamence. "Tell your Pokémon to calm down!"

"Salamence!" Sawyer shouted. "We have to get out of here as soon as possible, so do whatever Tierno says, okay? He's your Trainer for the moment."

Salamence still gave off a snort, but lowered itself closer to the ground so that Tierno could more easily hoist himself up.

"Okay, guys!" Shauna shouted from her spot behind Trevor. "Go, go, go!"

They all lifted up, the wing beats of the different Pokémon sending more soot and ash into the air as they began to, once again, try and outrun the huge cloud of smoke coming their way.

* * *

Meowth had a lot of experience running. So did Jessie and James, but he was the only one who'd really, really had to practice at it, since he'd had to relearn running on two legs as an adult. As it was now, though, they were either running after the twerp, running from him, or all too often running from a herd of Pokémon that were trying to run them down. And even if they ended up battered and bruised, they always managed to get out of whatever scrape they found themselves in.

This time he wasn't so sure.

The smoke was overtaking them. And once it did, it was basically over. This cloud of smoke was thick, and nearly impossible to see through. Soon they wouldn't be able to see each other, much less anything else. And that wasn't even taking into account what breathing the stuff would do. Meowth's eyes were stronger than a human's, but his lungs were much, much smaller.

"Hold hands!" Jessie yelled out as the smoke got closer.

The one thing they couldn't risk was getting separated. Then they were goners. Over all these years, that had been the constant; all they had was each other. That was how they got through—plus a good deal of underappreciated luck.

Jessie and James reached for each other, but Meowth couldn't reach. James was still carrying all the camera equipment, so he couldn't, but Jessie scooped down and grabbed Meowth as though he weighed nothing at all.

"Thanks, Jess," Meowth wheezed out, as he scrambled for purchase. He finally settled for wrapping his arms around her neck and clinging for his life to her shoulder with his legs—he had no idea how the twerp's Pikachu did it. But he was nevertheless glad to take a load off. For every long stride Jessie and James took, Meowth had needed about five to keep up, without using his body's natural running stance to boot. He wouldn't have been able to keep up for much longer, visibility issues or no.

Jessie didn't have the breath to reply, only managing to force out a grunt of acknowledgement.

The smoke was upon them then, thick and smothering. Jessie grabbed a fistful of her hair and covered her nose and mouth with it, trying to filter out the worst of the smoke while still able to breathe. James put his face to his shoulder and Meowth held a paw over his mouth.

Soon, the whole world was gone. Everything was gray, so solid it looked as though taking another step would cause you to crash into it. You'd fall into a soft, gray mattress. But it wasn't solid, it was just thick. Right away, all of their clothing, their skin, their hair was gray. They looked like that one time they'd all been covered in cement. The soot stuck to all the layers of sweat they'd accumulated through the day like a second skin. They were one with the smoke.

Running wasn't an option. If Jessie and James ran they'd hit a building, or trip over one of the many vines that had risen from the ground hours before. They couldn't even walk; they were forced to maintain a slow shuffle forward, relying on feeling the cobblestones beneath them, and reaching out in front with their elbows, as their hands were otherwise occupied.

He wanted to say something. He wanted to say that they'd never find shelter this way. They'd never escape the smoke. But he couldn't open his mouth to do so.

And besides that—what other option did they have?

The first touch was surprising, and nearly led Jessie to leap out of her skin. At first Meowth hadn't known what had caused it, but then something rough like sandpaper touched his elbow. It wasn't the kind of touch he might have expected, though. If Jessie had been to run into something, he would have guessed it to be a vine or a stone building, not…whatever this was. But when he looked down, he could barely see a hint of a blue arm pressed to Jessie's, a long claw sticking out and getting lost in the smoke. It was definitely a Pokémon.

"Hey, Jessie," James started. "I can breathe again."

Meowth dropped his paw and realized it was true. Suddenly, the air was clear. Well, it was still dense and gray in front of them, but it no longer filled his mouth and lungs. And into their vision came a fluffy, white cloud. Connected to a blue neck and a head that approached Jessie.

"That's an Altaria!" Meowth said.

The Altaria hummed a little, its soothing voice relaxing all of them. The panic they'd just experienced was fading away, making them wonder why they'd ever been worried in the first place. Things would be just fine.

"It wants me ta get on its back," Meowth said in an almost dazed voice. "Hey, Jessie, wanna help me out?"

"Sure thing, Meowth," Jessie replied, her speech also slow and lulled.

She reached and put Meowth at the base of Altaria's neck to which he replied, "It feels like I'm sittin' on whipped cream."

"I think this one wants me to climb up too," Jessie said, all but collapsing on a second creature in front of her.

"What about me, guys?" Even in his concern, James' voice was still relaxed like the others', as though it wouldn't matter a bit if he were left behind or not.

Just then, a third figure appeared, pressing a wet nose into James' hand.

"Oh, okay," James said, and he too flopped onto the Pokémon's back, wrapping his hands around its neck naturally.

Then, they were moving. Slowly, but progressively forward. It didn't matter where they were going, but with Altaria's humming, they were just happy to be there.

* * *

Professor Sycamore was holding on for dear life as Steven's Mega Metagross tore through the setting sky. They'd somehow made it through the metal wall without being scraped off like Bugs and now it was just about keeping a tight enough grip so that the wind didn't end up blowing them to the ground, thusly meeting a painful end.

Steven was more experienced in this, of course. He could surf on Metagross's back without so much as a single strap holding his shoes down—then again, they weren't usually going at such a breakneck pace when that happened. Professor Sycamore, on the other hand, had a Garchomp. A Garchomp who, despite all appearances, could indeed fly. But Professor Sycamore had never been particularly inclined to try it before.

Metagross brought them into the forest's edge where, on shaky legs, Professor Sycamore jumped off, Steven smoothly following.

"Never done that before," Professor Sycamore said uneasily, his attempt at laughter coming off uneven and forced.

"Good thing, though. Look."

Steven pointed to the building, which before their eyes shook and crumbled, big hunks falling to the ground and rattling the leaves of the forest.

Professor Sycamore gasped. "What about Serena and Mairin?"

"I don't know," Steven said darkly. "The best we can do is probably wait for things to settle a little and then send our Pokémon in."

The professor didn't want to wait. His instincts told him to run into the building—what remained of it—and search for the girls, threats of death be damned.

But the truth of the matter was that he was a man of science. A man of logic. No matter what his gut was telling him, he knew that Steven was right. If they'd been in one of the sections of the building that had already caved in, it was too late. And if they were somewhere else, they had a better chance of getting themselves out than Professor Sycamore did of being able to find them and safely assist the both of them in getting out. All he would be asking for by attempting that would be his own expedited death. And while Professor Sycamore wasn't an arrogant man, he felt as though odds were that he was needed for something else today.

Unable to push thoughts of the girls from his mind, he kept watching as the building crumbled. But in the midst of all the falling down, something was pushing up through the rubble, growing and growing as it tore through more of the lab, sending it to the ground.

"Is that the Giant Rock?" Steven asked.

Professor Sycamore wasn't sure. It didn't look the same as the rock they'd seen just minutes ago. This one had lots of spiky protrusions. And it wasn't just bigger—it had multiplied in size. It was now as tall as the building it had just collapsed. But then again, it had to be, right? It had been changing before their very eyes.

And just like that, it ripped through one of the sides of the building, not just growing any longer, but moving as though it was alive. The professor wasn't sure if it had legs, but somehow, it was almost running out of the rubble and…somewhere.

"Where is it going?" he whispered.

It was a rhetorical question, but one that couldn't help being asked. Likewise, Steven couldn't help but say, "I don't know. But it's imperative that we find out."

At that time, a shape in the distance began barreling towards them. The sun was setting and the Giant Rock taking out the building was throwing a lot of dust into the air, so it was difficult to tell what it was. Was it a part of the Giant Rock? Maybe some further attack from Team Flare? Steven seemed to notice it at the same time that Professor Sycamore did, and they both readied themselves beside Mega Metagross so that they would be ready to challenge a threat, should it present itself to them.

But it wasn't a threat at all. In fact, it was sweet relief.

"Oh, thank God," Professor Sycamore breathed, running towards the girls as they came toward him and Steven. Sure, it wasn't smart to be running back in the direction of the building they all had just fled, but he couldn't help himself. A part of him had truly convinced himself that Serena and Mairin were dead, crushed beneath the weight of a metallic wall having fallen on them as the Giant Rock tore through the building's foundation. But here they were, dusty and a bit worse for wear, but _alive_.

"Professor Sycamore!" Serena huffed, the same look of relief visible on her face that he knew was on his own. She'd obviously inhaled some smoke—her voice was rough with it, and wearing the obvious effort she and Mairin had taken in fleeing the building and getting there.

He couldn't help but embrace her. She ran into his arms and he squeezed her with relief, forcing himself to acknowledge that, yes, she had survived and was in one piece. He looked to the side and saw Steven holding Mairin's shoulders, the biggest grin on his face that the professor had seen that night. Briefly, Professor Sycamore wondered if they weren't hugging because of the damage that had just been done to Steven's middle.

"Professor," Serena said, pulling back. "Did you see—"

She started to gesture in the direction that the Giant Rock was and Professor Sycamore cut her off. "Yes, that's the Giant Rock. We have to figure out where it's going."

"Chespie's in there," Steven added, causing both Serena and Mairin to gasp.

Professor Sycamore didn't know if this was a relief for Mairin—that something worse hadn't happened in the midst of the building's collapse—or if this was worst-case-scenario territory. For himself, at least, he knew that it wasn't good and was just one more reason why the Giant Rock needed to be stopped.

"Are you two up for it?"

 _It_. Running after the rock. Trying to figure out where it was going, possibly how it was moving on its own, where Chespie was in it, how to get Chespie out, if it was possible to do so without harming Chespie, et cetera, et cetera. Whatever they would have to do to win against Team Flare.

Serena probably had even less of an idea of what would be needed than Professor Sycamore did, but it didn't stop her from, without hesitation, nodding with assurance and saying, "I am. Mairin?"

The three looked at Mairin, surprised to see that she was wearing Serena's same expression. "If I have another chance to save my Chespie, I have to take it. No questions asked."

* * *

The thing that people didn't know about acting and Pokémon training was that the two held a lot of overlap. Both were about first impressions, patterns, and following your instincts. When Diantha received a script, she immediately looked it through to get a read on the story, dialogue, and the character she was supposed to be reading for. Was the writing good? Was it natural on her tongue? Was the character someone she was interested in? Those were the first questions she asked. When she prepared for the role, she looked for what the character's traits were, what made them tick, what made them happy. And then, when all that info was ingrained, she got on set and trusted herself. With Pokémon Battles, she took note of the Pokémon, took stock of what she knew of the species and Type, studied the Trainer's Battle style, and then annihilated them with the marrying of those along with quick thinking.

So when Gardevoir took her near to where that sound of destruction had emanated, she noticed two things.

The first was that something had been birthed from this building hiding in the outskirts of Lumiose, and it had taken the whole damn thing down with it. That was taking stock of the situation. The second thing that she noticed was that it was tearing through anything in its path. Trees, uneven ground, the building it had sprung from— _anything_. It was going straight come hell or high water. That was the pattern.

Then her instincts tore her. Her impulse was to run straight into the damage and try and stop it. That's what she had done in Lumiose and had it worked? She didn't even know. It was a stuation where if she asked herself what would have been different if she hadn't been there, she didn't have an answer. Meyer's girl had been the one to calm Zygarde, not her. What had her staving off accomplished? She hoped that it had helped, but who really knew?

The second impulse was the other part of her job. One part was militaristic, one diplomatic. She was the chief of this nation, and in their time of crisis, she'd barely been able to get a word out to let the people know what was going on. And here she finally had access to her phone again.

Time was of the essence. But if the people didn't know what was going on, how could they prepare? Lysandre had said that this would become a world-wide crisis if he could help it. She had to prepare the people.

She would record a video and send it to her publicist—she'd know what to do with it without any explanation. So, Diantha pulled out her phone and started to speak.

"Citizens of the Kalos region and beyond," she started. "Diantha here, just outside of Lumiose with an update."

Diantha had never given anything resembling a press conference in this way—that was, with her Xtransceiver in selfie mode and her appearance a wreck. But she was practiced in using her phone in this way; using social media apps was good for publicity as both an actor and a Champion. She was always giving little updates and behind the scenes for projects. Usually she was done up with hair and makeup and a perfect smile, but now her hand was shaking—whether from stress or low blood sugar, she didn't know. Probably both—and even her best acting couldn't hide the panic still welled within her.

"The initial threat in Lumiose—Team Flare's control over Zygarde—is over. Zygarde has control over itself again and Team Flare's mind control ray," the term sounded so dramatic. Unrealistic, like something from a bad sci-fi script that would never even make it to her desk, "has been destroyed. However, it does not appear as though the threat posed by Team Flare is yet over."

She pointed the device toward the dust in the distance. The sun was setting, so the video quality was somewhat grainy and lacking the detail that she wanted to show, but without studio lights or some sort of a lens to zoom in on the activity, this was the best she had.

"This, I believe, is the next threat posed by Team Flare. I do not yet know what it is, and if anyone out there has any suspicions, please contact local authorities. I am currently not far from Lumiose City and this large object appears to be heading…"

Diantha looked back at Lumiose. She knew the city's skyline well enough to know which side she was looking at and what her cardinal directions were.

"…due east."

The map of Kalos that she knew so well sprang into her mind at that moment. Lumiose City in the center, the region's crown jewel, and due east of that was the Pokémon League. Her heart dropped. It would make perfect sense for this threat to be headed for the League. It was the governmental center of the city and would be a natural second strike after Lumiose, the most recognizable city in the region.

But that would only make sense if someone was looking to take over Kalos. If they wanted the region mostly intact, but wounded and in need of a new leader who would help it to recover. And, perhaps, if Diantha were currently at the League to be assassinated.

But none of that was true. She wasn't at the League, nor were even any of the Elite Four, and Team Flare definitely knew that. And, as Lysandre had blatantly lain out, he was not trying to organize a coup. He was going for world domination and the near extinction of the human race. So the League—sparsely populated at best and near abandoned during the Lumiose Conference—would be a strange target. So if it wasn't headed for the League…

It was going straight towards Anistar City.

Diantha flipped her wrist so that her face was back in frame. She couldn't see herself, but she knew that her eyes were wide, the whites showing every bit of her terror.

"Protect the sundial! Gym Leaders—protect the sundial!"


	8. Breathing

Olympia was fully conscious as she was being wheeled into the hospital. She could feel that her vitals had returned to normal, something that the doctors would be confused about soon enough. But her body was still incredibly fatigued and could probably benefit from an hour's worth of an IV drip.

She was still a bit out of it, though. Her sense of self was all there. She could feel her toes and her altogether normal heartbeat, but using her vision again was a lot. Visual vision, not psychic, clairvoyant vision. Becoming aware of sight and sound again was always a lot after she had an episode.

This time something snapped her back into it, though. As she was wheeled through the hallway, between the sound of doctors and nurses snapping medical jargon at each other, one voice struck straight through her.

Diantha. But Diantha wasn't in the hospital. In Anistar? No, probably not.

The television. Of course. That woman was always all over the television in one way or another. Olympia had always been one of the biggest supporters of Diantha's career, at least as far as Pokémon professionals were concerned. She knew the importance of arts and passion for one's mental health.

This wasn't a movie or guest spot on a TV show, though. This was _Diantha_ -Diantha. Not Diantha as so-and-so in such-and-such.

Then she heard it. Diantha warning the world about protecting the sundial.

Olympia breathed deeply into her oxygen mask.

It would be okay.

She'd been heard.

She'd done her part.

What happened next was in someone else's hands.

* * *

The Pokémon carrying Team Rocket stopped all at once, and Jessie opened her eyes. She wasn't quite sure when her eyes had closed, but as they'd passed through all the smoke and smog, carried on the backs of luck and these strange Pokémon, closing her eyes had only seemed natural. Not necessary, though, as the smoke around them was no longer an oppressive force. It was still there, but stopping just short of their skin before moving past them.

But now, eyes open, she had to adjust. There was bright light that none of the gang had seen in what felt like a long time. The sun hadn't quite set yet, but Lumiose had been overcome with smog for hours now. And now, of course, everything was gray. They hadn't seen light like this since the League Tournament, which, at this point, felt like it had been days ago.

The flurry was immediate.

"Oh my God, they found them."

"Are you all okay?"

"Quick, towels, rags, something!"

Towels were quickly handed to them, and Jessie immediately went to carefully brush some of the ash out of her eyes. What they really needed was full submersion in many baths, but it would probably be irresponsible to track soot and grime all over…wherever they'd just found themselves.

The towels were pretty well soiled before their faces could even be classified as 'clean', but it was a definite improvement. They then began using the towels to slap off the worst of the ash from the rest of their bodies. It only took a few blinks—clearing out the last of the gray—to realize that they were in a Pokémon Center. Lord only knew where, but it was the only possibility. There was a check-in desk, a plush lounge area, video phones, and a door with a light-up needle above it. It looked like every Pokémon Center they'd ever been in before, just with a lot more people.

"Thank you so much," James said, finishing up with his filthy towel. The person who took it looked slightly familiar.

"Don't thank us," the girl said. "Thank our Pokémon."

Beside them, Jessie could now see that the Pokémon that had guided them through the smoke were an Altaria, Pyroar, and Garchomp. All three, somehow, were miraculously clean of dirt, save for where they'd been touched by the Rocket members.

Without hesitation, the three of them turned to the Pokémon, their saviors, and bowed deeply. "Thank you," they all said in unison.

When they came up, Jessie turned back to the girl, and noticed that she was flanked by two men. She had said 'our', implying that the three Pokémon weren't just hers. It appeared it was one Trainer for each Pokémon. And then Jessie remembered who they were. They had all been in the Lumiose Conference. The blond girl was Astrid, who'd made it to the top eight, standing beside Remo from the top four. The other guy hadn't made it past the first round—Titus, she remembered.

"How did you…find us?" was all Jessie could ask.

"We've been watching your whole broadcast," Titus answered, pointing to the television in the Center's lounge area. It was currently on a news channel with some talking head covering the day's events. "We could suss out where you were based on the footage."

Jessie looked to James and Meowth as all three of them seemed to realize that they were still recording. They had the visual equivalent of a butt-dial rolling, though it seemed as though the news sites were sensible enough to turn it off. James began fiddling with the camera equipment. All of it was covered in soot, and Jessie could only hope that nothing was ruined. James handed off pieces to her whilst he dealt with them one at a time, alternately wiping with a rag and blowing, trying not to force any of the debris further into the crevices it had crept into.

"And when we saw the tower collapse and that smoke coming towards you, we knew you needed help," Titus continued while Team Rocket focused their manual efforts on their filming equipment.

"We used our Pokémon's abilities to help find you. Garchomp has the Ability Sand Veil, and is better at seeing in sandstorms—we assumed a cloud of smoke would be about the same—so it could lead the way. And Altaria has Cloud Nine, so that there's an area just around it where the effects of weather are eliminated. My Pyroar was just an extra set of legs."

"Dat explains why they're still so clean," Meowth said.

Jessie didn't really care about the explanation, though. So their Pokémon had handy Abilities, whoop-de-do. Maybe she'd care about that if she was trying to steal them—she'd be lying if she said the impulse hadn't crossed her mind—but even she knew that this wasn't the time for that. No, she was thinking about something else entirely.

Someone had wanted to save them. Her. Multiple people, actually. People in the Center were watching their report, and were grateful for it. And when they'd seen the trio in trouble, they'd sent their Pokémon into danger to save them. Previously in her life, the only person who had ever rescued her, aside from James and Meowth, of course, was the twerp. But that was hardly personal; that kid just had a complex that caused him to rescue everything in sight. He and his twerpy friends were probably doing that right now.

Jessie was snapped out of her reverie when there was a sudden, frantic knocking at the door. It struck an incongruous chord in her; a Pokémon Center wasn't a place where one ever had to knock on the door to get in. The door opened automatically, always letting anyone, even a criminal like herself, in.

"Go, go, sit down, drink some water," Astrid said, shooing her, James, and Meowth to the seating area.

Already people were standing up to let Team Rocket take their place. She couldn't think of a situation where that would have been possible before. There was a pitcher of water and some disposable cups being pushed in their direction, and they all drank eagerly. Once water was presented to her, it was like her body allowed herself to feel how parched she truly was. It was all she could do not to grab the whole pitcher and swallow it down. Not that kindness was stopping her. Rather, she'd had colic before from drinking too much water too quickly after being out chasing the twerps for too long, and wasn't eager to try it again. When Meowth reached to pour himself another glass, she stuck her arm out and shook her head.

"You can have more later," she said.

Then, suddenly, it was like she was watching her own entrance into the Pokémon Center just a few minutes ago from someone else's perspective. Remo opened the door and in came three—no, four—figures covered in ash, gray and beyond recognition. Each had a Pokémon with them that must have carried them through the cloud. Every movement sent small avalanches of soot to the ground, layering on top of what Team Rocket had already left on the carpet.

"Are you alright?" Astrid asked as she sent a vague gesture to Titus. Jessie didn't know what it meant, but Titus must have, as he ran out, presumably to get something.

The only answer Astrid got was some coughs, sending more ash flying.

Titus came back quickly enough with more towels, which must have been what Astrid had intended because she didn't ask for anything else. Instead, she took two, leaving Titus with two as well, and handed them to these new figures. She grabbed their hands, and placed the plush, white towels in them before bringing their hands up to their faces.

Then, before Jessie's eyes, the figures went from black and white to color.

And, of course, she recognized them for what they were. Friends of the twerp. The same ones they'd just met up with who had given them the camera and been saving people outside. Jessie was surprised to find that she was relieved to see them safe. Still, Jessie's impulse was to hide her face, turn away before they noticed her. But there was no point in doing that today. Instead, Jessie lifted the boy's camera and took pictures of them, to show the soot falling off of them. She took pictures of the people who had found refuge in the Center, all, for some reason or another, having gone against the evacuation notice. Then she turned back towards the television and noticed James and Meowth doing the same. Meowth was reaching to refill his water again, but this time she didn't stop him.

The TV was playing footage of the destruction. _Their_ footage, Jessie quickly realized. It somehow must have been shared across networks and was most of the visuals they had to accompany the news reports. That made Jessie feel good. Their dangerous gamble was paying off just as she'd hoped. The people must be so grateful to have this footage. Even the people in the Pokémon Center—who largely must know what was going on—were glued to the screen. She'd really managed to make a difference.

Then a breaking news bulletin began running at the bottom of the screen, and James' footage was taken away.

"Whoa, that's Diantha," Shauna said, and the four twerps came over to the TV, standing just behind the couch Team Rocket was seated on.

They all were greeted with the image of shaky cam footage of the Champion. She was barely recognizable. The light was dimming, so she and her background looked dark. But none of that really mattered. What mattered was what she was saying.

And what she was saying…Jessie didn't know. She'd been in the action this whole time, and Diantha's info greatly differed from her own. But, strangely, she trusted Diantha anyway. So, one threat had been contained and onto the next. Judging from the panicked face Diantha ended her impromptu broadcast with, Jessie could only assume that this threat was as big as the last. And if Jessie knew anything about Lysandre, she could also guess that this threat was actually bigger.

"We've gotta go," Jessie said, standing up again. She'd only been seated for a few minutes, but it was long enough for her body to catch up with her. Her feet weren't just sore, they were _throbbing_. Muscles in her shoulders and back that she'd forgotten about were screaming from all the things they'd had to pull and carry—she could only imagine how much worse James had it from carting around the majority of their equipment. And her knees and legs were stiff beyond belief. But in all the years they'd spent following the twerp, she was used to a few aches and pains; the potential end of the world didn't change that a bit.

"Really, Jessie?" James asked.

She nodded. "Really. Obviously there's still a lot for us to show. I doubt Diantha's going to be bringing out her phone again anytime soon, so it's up to us."

"We wanna go too!" Shauna said, unexpectedly joining their conversation.

"Oh no, you don't," Nurse Joy said, popping up behind the twerps. "You're going to stay right here until you get some food and water in you. And some rest."

"Hey, you're not the boss of us, lady," Jessie snapped.

"No, not you," Nurse Joy said. "You're adults and no matter how ill-advised I think your decision is, I can't stop you. But these ones," she looked to the twerps, "I can't allow to leave."

"Den I guess we're on da road again," Meowth said, slipping off the couch.

Nurse Joy sighed. "At least eat something?"

All three Team Rocket members' eyes lit up.

Sure, they were on an important mission in helping save the world—or at least catch it on video—but they were still the same people. And it simply wasn't in them to turn down free food.

"Yes, please!" they said in unison. Saving the world would probably take a minute anyway.

And then, they needed to find their helicopter.

* * *

When Xerosic finished explaining the, frankly, quite short outline of what Plan B was, everyone was left silent. For a moment.

Then, Alain was the first to crack.

In two strides, he was on Xerosic, his fist clenched around the other man's collar. "Mega-Evolution Energy? You knew what was wrong with Chespie the whole time‽"

Xerosic struggled, using both hands to try and remove Alain's one, but Alain was unshakeable. "Of course we did," Xerosic grunted. "Now, get off of me. Someone get him off of me!"

Misty watched as Alain released Xerosic as suddenly as he'd grabbed him, exiting the group and pacing around the room, hands atop his head as he tried to take calming breaths. A few pairs of eyes awkwardly followed him, but no one went to him. Misty knew she knew him the least out of the group, but she suspected that no one else was any better equipped to comfort him. So she went back to Xerosic, who was just getting his own breath back under him.

"What kind of a crazy do you, and you," she added, making sure not to forget the Flare girls, still coming out of their paralysis, "have to be in order to follow a guy who's willing to do this?"

"The really desperate kind, I assume, for them," Xerosic answered, waving lazily at Bryony and Aliana. "For me…I suppose the arrogant role of the mad genius who thinks he can outsmart the charismatic supreme leader. Here's hoping I still can."

"Well, I don't really care about the hows and the whys," Ash said, pushing himself up to standing. Misty and Clemont quickly went to his side to support him. "All I'm hearing is that we've gotta get a move on if we're going to stop this thing."

"Maybe that's what _we're_ going to do," Misty said, gesturing to everyone else standing around them. "But you're going to stay right here. You've just been through quite the ordeal, Ash."

"I feel fine!" he said indignantly.

Misty could hardly believe that. Minutes ago, he'd been unconscious, and now he was telling her he was fine? It was hard to believe that Ash had gotten rasher and more dangerously optimistic since she'd last spent time with him, but it was sure looking like that was the case.

"He actually might be," Clemont said nervously, probably zeroing in on the incredulous look on Misty's face. He seemed to have come to the other side of his panic attack and was back to 'logic-Clemont,' as Bonnie had put. "He's likely healing in tandem with Greninja right now. He's reacting to the Full Restore like a Pokémon would. Meaning, wholly and rapidly."

"See, Mist! I'm fine!"

Ash went about doing a few stretches and cracking some joints. Then his stomach growled.

"Oh…" He looked down at his stomach, then back at Misty sheepishly. "Or I'll _be_ fine after I have some food and water."

Now that sounded like Ash.

"And then we've gotta get moving! Everyone good with that?"

Everyone seemed to agree: Xerosic, Clemont, Bonnie, Alain—Misty knew, at this point, that she wasn't going to be able to stop Ash. Not that she really wanted to now that he seemed massively improved—the only one who held back was Malva.

"No," she said. "I'm not going to be a fucking part of this anymore."

"Part of saving the world?" Bonnie asked, confused.

"A part of this shit thing that Lysandre did," she clarified. "Lysandre can eat my fucking ass from beyond the grave, as far as I'm concerned."

"I, uh…" Ash started, looking vaguely uncomfortable. "Wouldn't you be getting back at him by helping us save the world?"

Malva laughed bitterly. "No. The bastard was already getting a hoot out of me turning on the part of the plan that I did know about. He's probably laughing right now at the thought of me saving the world."

"Malva, we could really use you," Alain stated. "You're an Elite. An excellent Trainer. You could help us save—"

"Blah, blah, 'save the world,' I _know_." Then, Malva began to tremble a little bit. She removed her glasses and wiped her eyes. "Just…give me a fucking minute, okay?"

Misty was surprised. Obviously, she didn't know Malva well at all, but the coarse language, and the anger worn right on the surface was enough to inform Misty that hiding vulnerability was important to her. It actually reminded Misty of how she, herself, behaved from time to time. So seeing Malva so thoroughly lose it—and not in an angry way—told Misty exactly what state Malva was in. And she could only guess that, for one reason or another, it all went back to Lysandre jumping over the side of that building.

It had shaken Misty, of course. In all the disasters she'd faced while traveling with Ash, somehow they'd managed to stop short of death. Human death, at least. Somehow, she'd managed, until this day, to largely avoid witnessing death. But Lysandre leaning confidently over the edge of that building, and beginning to plummet…she wasn't sure when she'd ever stop seeing that image when her eyes were closed. It filled her mouth with bile. Whether the worst man in the world or any other stranger, being witness to a suicide like that made her feel sick.

But Malva knew him. And, judging from the way she'd spoken to him on Prism Tower, she'd probably known him well, and for a while. Even if she'd hated the man in his last moments, Misty couldn't imagine what the woman before her was going through.

"Tell you what," Malva finally said, trying to put her barriers back up again as soon as possible. "Why don't I stay here and make sure that these lil bitches," she pointed to the twin Flare girls, "don't get any big ideas about trying to finish Lysandre's business. If they try and cross me, I'll break their fingers one by one myself."

"I'm not sure that's—" Ash began, but Malva cut him off.

"Necessary? A reasonable punishment to fit the crime? Listen up, runner-up. Why don't you guys go and play hero like you want to, and you don't worry about what I do back here with my fine coworkers over here, alright? Don't worry, I won't make the unions mad."

Ash was still hesitating, as was Misty. She didn't think that Malva was in any position to be left alone right now, even if one couldn't really consider this 'alone.' The two girls were there, as well as the other Flare people that seemed to have come with Clemont. But they hardly seemed to be the type that could do anything for Malva if she decided to actually get rash and violent, whether towards herself or them. Still, Xerosic was the one who spoke up.

"Sounds like a plan, Malva. Thanks for volunteering."

"What?" Ash asked. "You really think that's the best idea?"

"What?" Xerosic answered with a shrug. "These girls clearly have a vested interest in seeing this plan go through," he said, thumbing over at Bryony and Aliana. "They can't be trusted. Hence, they need a babysitter."

"I'm just not sure that Malva is the right one to do the sitting," Misty said. Quietly, but not quite under her breath.

"Well, I don't see any of you eager to step out of the spotlight and miss out on saving the world," Malva bit back. "You guys do the hero thing, and I'll try not to do the villain thing."

"See!" Ash said, pointing. "We can't trust her!"

"I trust her," Alain said, stepping up. "And we're certainly not getting anything done this way. Ash said he needs a bite and some water—I'd say we all do—and while we do that, we can figure out how to get where we need to go and, hopefully, a strategy."

There was a moment more of hostile eye contact between Malva and Ash and Misty, but it broke when Ash's stomach growled, emptying the room of its tension.

Finally, Ash agreed, "Yeah, what he said."

* * *

The first twitch gave Meyer hope.

Technically, he knew that a twitch didn't mean much. In human bodies, at least, twitching could happen even after death. It often fooled viewers into thinking that the person wasn't really dead, but it was all just a part of the process of life exiting one's body.

He'd seen it, after all.

Not that Meyer believed that this Pokémon was dying. He believed it was recovering. He hoped that it was soaking in all of the sunlight that it could, because soon the sun would fall completely below the horizon, and all they'd have left was its scant reflection off the moon. And Meyer wasn't sure if that would be enough to help the little guy out.

"You gotta pull through, little guy," Meyer said, crouched down on the rock with the Pokémon. "For Kalos. For mankind. For…Bonnie…"

Meyer felt his nose begin to get stuffy again, the tears well on their way. He had hope in his heart that Clemont and Bonnie were alive. They looked out for each other. And Diantha was right; they were scrappy. As was Ash. With their Pokémon, they would find a way out.

Also, he was their father. Wouldn't he feel it if something truly terrible had happened to him?

Deep down, he wasn't sure that he believed in that kind of stuff. But right now, he had to. He _had_ to believe that was the case, or else he might just fall apart.

He looked to Dedenne, who was seated right beside Zygarde. It helped, seeing his little girl's companion. The Pokémon looked perhaps a little concerned, but not unsettled. It wasn't doing anything to relay to Meyer that something was wrong. That this was out of the ordinary for what it had witnessed of Squishy. It was the smallest of comforts, but Meyer wasn't in a position to be choosy.

Meyer didn't know if his words had been heard or maybe if Dedenne's positive energyhad been sensed, but a moment later, Zygarde slowly opened one eye and then the other. It blinked a couple times, and then made eye contact with Meyer. Then looked away.

"Hey, little guy," Meyer said, leaning more towards Zygarde. "Good to see you awake."

Zygarde continued to keep its gaze away from Meyer and rolled from its prone position to a slightly more upright one. Then it began to slither away.

"Hey," Meyer said again, coming around to block Zygarde's path. "Where do you think you're going?"

Evidently nowhere in particular as Zygarde turned around and began to go the other way. However, once again, Meyer came in front of it. The Pokémon was so little that it wasn't a struggle to outpace it, even from a crouching position. Dedenne seemed to think the game was fun, and started scampering to either side of the Pokémon as well. Meyer ignored this.

"You sure it's a good idea to start heading somewhere already?" Meyer asked. "I know you're the protector of Kalos and all, but you've been through quite the ordeal already today."

The dance continued as Meyer and Dedenne continued to jump in front of Zygarde whenever it changed directions. Then, suddenly, Meyer stopped and sat down before Zygarde.

"Wait," he said. "You're just trying to get away from me, aren't you?"

Zygarde was up and hopping at this point, and just turned around abruptly, almost with a huff.

"I'll take that as a yes," Meyer said, flopping down on his side to continue to block the Pokémon's way. He regretted it immediately as he did it—he was too old for stuff like that, and his body had already been through a lot that day. A particular rattling of his brain reminded him that he was probably concussed. But he ignored it, despite Dedenne's concerned look, and continued to look at Zygarde. "Why, buddy? I just wanna help you out."

The Pokémon seemed to shoot him a glare and turned the other way again.

"Look, I'm not trapping you or anything," Meyer said, pushing himself back up. "I haven't put my hands on you, have I? And surely you can make it around my daughter's Dedenne. If you need to go, then you can go. But I'm of the opinion that you still have some resting to do. So why don't you just sit tight right here a while longer? At least until the sun sets fully and you've soaked up all you can, yeah?"

Zygarde looked at him for just a moment before flopping back down on the rock, facing away from him. Then, seeming to think better of that, it flipped around, keeping one eye open—the larger one.

That drew a chuckle out of Meyer. He knew that it was an insult, or at the very least, a bad thing. The Pokémon didn't trust him, clearly. It was literally sleeping with one eye open. Meyer exhaled and pulled Dedenne onto his lap, glad to have gotten Zygarde to settle down a bit. He stroked Dedenne and craned his neck to look into the distance. Dust was flying in the air, following that thing that Diantha had run after. Then he looked back at Zygarde.

He hoped that the last few minutes of daylight would heal Zygarde to some reasonable state. Because he had a feeling that, once again, Zygarde would need all its strength. Soon.

* * *

While Team Rocket ate for the first time since before Ash's Battle against Alain, Remo sent his Garchomp to look for Team Rocket's helicopter. Or, if all else failed, _a_ helicopter. None of the three Team Rocket members had ever been opposed to stealing and, somehow, in this strange end of the word scenario, it seemed especially justifiable.

Fortunately, when Garchomp returned, Meowth was able to interpret that he believed Garchomp had found their helicopter. All they had to do was use Garchomp, Pyroar, and Altaria again to get to it safely. And when they got there, Altaria flapped its wings to clear some of the smoke, and James couldn't help but notice that something was a little off.

The helicopter was on its side.

More than that, the rotor blade had been bent and one of the landing skis had been entirely knocked off. There were now-dormant vines all around it, leaving a pretty clear picture as to where the damage had come from.

James sighed. "Well, what do we do now?" he asked from atop Pyroar.

"We fix it," Jessie answered as she leapt off Garchomp's back. "I'm sure there's a way to bend this back into shape and…screw this thingy back on."

"I bet we could just use Pyroar ta melt da blade back on," Meowth said.

"Yes, good idea!" Jessie exclaimed. "Let's start with that."

Meowth stayed on Altaria as it continued to clear the smoke from around the helicopter; there wasn't much he could offer the group physically. Jessie and James hoisted up the landing ski and held it in place as Pyroar began blowing a gentle flame where it had snapped off. For a moment, James felt like the twerp, with all of his different types of Pokémon helping him perform all the little tasks he used to escape their traps. Then he remembered that the twerp usually had a Water Pokémon that he would have been able to use to cool off and set the metal, while Jessie and James would just have to wait for air to do the job. But still, this wasn't a task they would have been able to do on their own.

"Now we just need a way to fix the propeller," Jessie grunted.

"We'll have to get the helicopter upright for that."

Immediately, Garchomp went to the other side of the helicopter and used its blade-like arms to begin slowly pushing the helicopter. James was alarmed—they had to keep the ski at the right angle, after all—but he and Jessie maneuvered carefully so that it was placed as evenly as possible on the destroyed ground.

It was then that James realized how tall the helicopter really was. It had to be at least ten feet, which was much taller than any of the Pokémon they had here. Altaria could fly, but her cotton-like wings would hardly be a help in bending metal.

"Maybe we can find something like a metal street sign and bang on it a little to get it back in shape?" James suggested.

"Sorry, Jimmy. Dat'll probably just bend the street sign."

While the three Team Rocket members were contemplating, James felt a wriggling in his pocket. Then, suddenly, Inkay appeared in front of him, a determined look slanting its usually googly-eyes.

"Inkay?"

"Kay!" Inkay shouted before diving headfirst onto the propeller, hitting it soundly, and bouncing off.

"Oh, Inkay…"

Again, Inkay smacked into the rotor blade, bounced off, and returned with more speed. To James' surprise, the angle of the blade was changing. But he wasn't sure that Inkay had the strength or the control to get the blade razor straight like it needed to be to fly.

But Inkay was relentless. And little by little, the blade lowered to where it needed to be. And then, for the first time in hours, the group saw something bright. There, hitting all of the particles of dust so that it looked like a cloud of white, was Inkay, still upside-down, evolving.

And then, it was right-side-up. No longer did it have googly-eyes of any sort, but rather narrowed, menacing ones, looking right at James.

James swallowed nervously. His most distinct memories of Malamar were of that psychopathic one that wanted to take over the world, and its friends. The Malamar that Inkay had hated. And now, the world under threat of someone else entirely, here was Inkay, transformed into the thing it had despised.

Then, Malamar gave a little chirp. Then a little cheer. Then it flew a large loop-the-loop, disappearing for a moment into the unfiltered smoke, and then back again. And when it returned, it focused its new slitted eyes on the helicopter. Shortly thereafter, the helicopter began to glow. The bent blade evened out, flattening to the point that it looked fresh from the factory. It was, as they say, good as new.

"Malamar, look what you did!" James exclaimed.

"Must be all dat new Psychic power," Meowth commented.

James remembered looking at Inkay after they'd had that first encounter with the evil Malamar. The unease that had settled in his gut at thinking that his sweet little Inkay could evolve into that. Now it was difficult to feel anything other than love and admiration for this Pokémon that they had all once feared.

"Okay, then," Jessie said. "Let's go!"

* * *

Professor Sycamore was clinging to Garchomp for dear life, his thighs and arms tense from where he was holding the tightest. Garchomp, though pretty well exhausted by this point, was flying through the air with Professor Sycamore on its back while Steven's Mega Metagross carried Mairin, Serena, and Steven himself, all in pursuit of the Giant Rock. Even with three people riding it instead of one, Mega Metagross was leading the way with Garchomp flying in its wake. Professor Sycamore figured that when you already weigh a literal ton, a few hundred more human pounds aren't going to slow you down much. And if Steven was in pain from the girls clenching his bruised middle, he wasn't showing it.

They were gaining on the Rock when the professor noticed a beam coming from Steven. A moment later, a Skarmory was flying beside them, light and agile compared to both Garchomp and Mega Metagross.

"Steel Wing!"

Professor Sycamore barely heard Steven make the command, but the next moment Skarmory was honing in on the Giant Rock, wing aglow. It managed to get a good swipe against the middle of the Rock's Zygarde-shaped body, but there was no evidence that the Rock had been injured at all. Then, suddenly, a vine was swinging at Skarmory who quickly dove out of the way, falling back towards Steven to await another command.

"Aerial Ace!" Steven tried again. Much the same thing happened, with Skarmory angling towards the Giant Rock and barely getting in a hit before a vine flailed towards it.

"We're not going to get anywhere this way!" Professor Sycamore barked. The Giant Rock still had to be going close to fifty miles per hour and they weren't slowing it down at all. There had to be a way to injure it, but this wasn't it.

Steven's face was dark in the little remaining light of day. Professor Sycamore knew he wasn't telling him anything he didn't know, but it was clear neither of them had a solution. His expression far from hopeful, Steven tried another command. "Skarmory, Spikes!"

This time, Skarmory flew in front of the Giant Rock and dropped a bunch of jacks-like sticks in front of the Giant Rock. They were large, but Professor Sycamore knew right away that the Giant Rock would bowl over the impediments like they were nothing. Its body was being propelled by a bunch of the vines that had taken over Lumiose City. He couldn't tell if they were coming from the ground and pushing the Rock along or if they were coming from the Giant Rock itself, like the many legs of an Omanyte.

Steven shook his head, his lips pursed in a thin line. He returned Skarmory, wanting to save its energy until they had a better plan, Professor Sycamore was willing to bet. Just then, he saw Serena pointing at the ground with the hand that wasn't clinging to Steven's waist for balance.

Professor Sycamore hardly noticed himself guiding Garchomp lower in the air to get a better view of the thing Serena had spotted. Sure enough, there was a cloud of dust behind the larger cloud that was being kicked up by the Giant Rock's vines. It was a Pokémon. And a person.

"Diantha!" Serena shouted loud enough for Professor Sycamore to hear.

The group watched as Diantha entered the fray much like Steven had: atop one Pokémon and releasing another. The Rock seemed able to sense her proximity and immediately began swinging vines and hurling shrapnel at her. The Pokémon she was riding was able to dodge easily enough; at least, it didn't seem to be enough of a concern for her to try and put any distance between herself and the Rock.

As Professor Sycamore watched rocks flying through the air at her, he idly wondered if the Rock would eventually lose enough mass and shrink down to nothing if enough rocks were thrown overboard like that. It was a useless thought, but, still, it was the best plan he had yet.

Diantha's seemed better, though. As Professor Sycamore edged a little closer, he could make out that Diantha was riding upon a Tyrantrum, and a quite fast one at that. Its endurance was Pokémon she'd released into the air was a Hawlucha. Hawlucha couldn't soar like Skarmory could, but it glided until it landed _on_ the Giant Rock and began to attack.

" _That's_ the strategy!" Steven exclaimed. "Let's get closer and follow her lead."

Professor Sycamore wasn't convinced—a fresh lot of vines erupted at Hawlucha and Diantha as the Rock seemed to sense their threat—but he still directed Garchomp a little closer, though not as tightly as Steven was attempting. The professor was currently atop his only Pokémon; he didn't have another to offer to the Giant Rock. So he watched as more vines manifested from the Giant Rock, and tried to impede Hawlucha. However, any Hawlucha would be incredibly agile, and a Hawlucha trained by the Champion would be especially so, and so Diantha's managed to leap over vine after vine as though it were playing a game of double dutch. On most of its leaps, it even managed to come down with powerful kicks, looking for a weak spot in the Rock's makeup. Professor Sycamore wasn't sure it was finding any yet, though.

Steven was at a bit of a disadvantage to Diantha. His Pokémon were equally powerful, but he was a Steel Type Trainer while Diantha had no speciality. Most of Steven's Pokémon were heavy hitters, but they sacrificed speed for being physical tanks.

Not that Steven seemed to care. That was the problem he always had to overcome as a Trainer and, though the opponent was different, he could start off with similar tactics. Without hesitation, Steven called an Aggron to the Giant Rock.

When Aggron first materialized, it stumbled a little before finding its footing on the uneven, Zygarde-shaped rock. Then it sat into its weight and planted. Unlike Hawlucha, who was jumping deeper into the crevices of the Rock, possibly scoping out the landscape, Aggron stayed in that one spot and made its goal dealing damage. Vines wrapped around its limbs, but then it unleashed an Earthquake, opening growing veins of the red energy that was coursing through the Giant Rock. But somehow it still seemed to hold its integrity. No chunks fell to the ground that Professor Sycamore could see, but he had to assume that real damage was being done to the Rock. If invisible damage.

Serena wasn't far behind Steven, calling one of her own Pokémon to join Steven's and Diantha's in action. Her Pancham landed in Aggron's shadow, then began to follow much the same path as Hawlucha. Like Hawlucha, Pancham had speed and tenacity. Its movements weren't as refined or calculated as Hawlucha's, but it had good reflexes and some innate skill. Along the way, Professor Sycamore saw it deliver a Stone Edge and hit back vines with Arm Thrust.

Mairin was the only one holding back. Well, and himself. He wasn't yet quite sure what his role to play was. Or would be. But he was a professor. His job, despite appearances, wasn't made up primarily of discoveries or even giving new Pokémon to Trainers. No, on any given day, most of the year, his job was to observe. So he would do that now, and wait until discovery came.

* * *

Professor Sycamore wasn't like Professor Oak, who had a fridge full of casseroles from Delia, and a freezer full of frozen meals for when Delia wasn't around. Nor was he like Professor Elm, who had to have protein bars forced into his hands by assistants when he forgot to eat. Rather, he was just like any other Kalosian. He had a couple baguettes, probably bought fresh that morning that seemed so long ago. His fridge, dark from the power outage, was stocked with a variety of cheeses and jams, as well as high-fat butter. In the cabinets, he had a few snack cookies and chocolates, as well as many bottles of wine.

It wasn't a feast by any means—he was one man, after all—but it was more than enough to do something for a group of people who hadn't eaten since before Ash and Alain had taken the stage: probably six or seven hours ago by now.

And Ash was feeling…okay? He was ravenous, but he often found himself that way. His body was perhaps a little sore, but he honestly didn't feel worse than he had at many moments in his journey over the years. Much better than when he'd woken up at least. What he was feeling now was pretty par for the course, actually. But by the way people were looking at him and talking about him as though he weren't in the room and fully conscious, he must have been through some major ordeal that he just didn't remember.

In this moment, though, it was all Ash could do not to go straight to the cookies—Serena sure had spoiled them with all the macarons that year—but he quickly found a ham and cheese sandwich being shoved in his hand by Misty. It took him only a few seconds to eat it. Misty, meanwhile, was eating a second sandwich herself, as were Clemont and Bonnie. Xerosic had found some protein bars in the pantry and was eating one in the corner of the room. But Alain wasn't even in the kitchen, despite refueling having been his suggestion.

Alain came in after Ash had moved on from the sandwich to the cookies, PokéBalls in one hand and a small bag of PokéChow in the other. He put the open bag on the ground and Pikachu, who was snacking on a lump of cheese, scurried off Ash's shoulder to the bag and began munching. Ash looked at Alain and felt a slight prickle on the back of his neck. The same prickle he felt whenever he realized that the people in disguise in front of him were really Team Rocket.

Now, Ash was used to the feeling of perhaps not knowing everything that the people around him knew. All of his companions seemed to, quite often, know more than him or talk about something that he didn't quite understand. He was used to it, had, by now, accepted it, and realized that even when he didn't quite know what was going on, things managed to go okay for him anyway. He trusted his instincts. Always had.

But since waking up, maybe only twenty minutes ago, he felt particularly out of sorts. Not from being passed out, but from knowing that he'd missed a lot. The last thing he remembered was begging Alain to do something, to save him and his Pokémon. Had that happened? If Lysandre was dead now, then what choice had Alain made exactly? In his gut, he felt like he wanted to trust Alain. But Ash also wanted to trust everyone—he knew that much about himself.

He didn't know what to say to the other boy. What to ask. For the moment, he was just going to look to Clemont, Bonnie, and Misty, who all seemed to trust him well enough. And that was good enough for Ash.

"These are yours," Alain said, placing the PokéBalls in his hand.

Ash gasped, nearly choking on his cookie. "Thank you! Are they okay? Have you seen them? What ha—"

"You're welcome," Alain said simply, cutting him off. "They're still exhausted, but they're okay."

"Thank goodness," Ash said with a sigh, clipping the 'Balls back to their rightful spots on his 'Belt. "Hey, do you know if anyone has met up with Serena?"

Alain glanced back at Bonnie and Clemont briefly before shaking his head. "No, I don't know for sure, but…I don't believe we've heard anything from her or Mairin. Or Professor Sycamore."

"Oh," Ash said, a little crestfallen. He felt bad that he hadn't thought to ask sooner—that it had taken this long for Serena to enter his mind. But, judging from Alain's face, the rest of them hadn't thought about the other members of their party for a while either. And now Ash felt bad about reminding Alain that he didn't know where Mairin was or if she was safe.

"Where'd you find the PokéChow?" Misty asked.

"There's a closet full of it in the back. Different kinds for different Pokémon and all that."

"You sure seem to know Professor Sycamore's lab well."

"I used to be his assistant," Alain replied as he began to peruse the shelves.

Ash hadn't known that. It seemed like the kind of thing that Ash should have known about before today, but, then again, there was a lot he hadn't known about Alain until today. Now that he thought about it, Alain always had maintained a mysterious vibe around him—something Ash wasn't especially familiar with. But still, perhaps he would have found out through Professor Sycamore. Either way, though, it was a surprise.

"Well, that's sure coming in handy today," Misty continued.

Alain looked at Misty and gave the tiniest of nods before going to Xerosic and grabbing a few protein bars himself. With Clemont encouraging Bonnie to sit on the tile floor and feeding her more pieces of cheese, that left Ash and Misty standing alone by the refrigerator. And, as in most of his life, he had questions. What had happened in the last how many hours since he'd been hanging in the air above Prism Tower with his Pokémon? What was all this talk of Prism Tower coming down? Of a plan A and a plan B? None of these was the question that came out, though.

"How are you here, Misty?"

Misty looked up at him with a mouth full of sandwich. "I took your Charizard and flew."

"Charizard's here?"

With a nod, Misty took Charizard's PokéBall and gave it back to its rightful owner. "Here it is."

Ash received the PokéBall and smiled down at it. There was no room on his 'Belt for it now, but he put it in his pocket with care. "Thanks. I guess that answers the how, which I think is what I asked, but I guess I really meant why? You weren't in Kalos, were you?"

"I wasn't," Misty responded. "I guess I saw you in trouble and…old habits die hard, huh?"

Ash chuckled. "Yeah, I guess so."

He glanced over at Alain. The other boy was moving across the apparently very familiar room, acting essentially normal. Then again, Ash supposed they all were acting shockingly normal in contrast to the day.

"Did you save me? Did Alain?"

She nodded. "Yeah. Me, him, Bonnie. Malva. It was a group effort."

"What, um," Ash shuffled his feet and rubbed the back of his neck. "What exactly happened to me? All I remember is being held up in the air and then next thing I knew I was here."

"You and Greninja were being controlled by Lysandre," Misty answered simply. "Bonnie said you were something called Ash-Greninja? And Lysandre was having you attack on his behalf."

Ash winced. He suddenly remembered the sensation of blinding pain hitting every nerve in his body and shouting that Lysandre wouldn't control him. He hadn't been thinking at the time about exactly what was happening to him—he'd barely been thinking anything at all—but to hear that he and Greninja had been nothing more than Lysandre's puppets was hardly a surprise. From what he'd been told, it wasn't the first time something like this had happened to him.

"Well, thanks a lot for helping us out back there," Ash said, handing Misty a cookie. "I'm glad you're here."

Misty smiled, taking a crunchy bite of the snack. "Me too."

"No, really." He bumped his shoulder against hers and then leaned against the counter, keeping imperfect eye contact as he said, "I missed you. I'm glad to see you even if it's because you had to save me again."

"I'm just glad that it's really you that I'm seeing now," Misty replied, quiet as she joined him, side by side, their arms and hips just barely touching.

In this position, they could only really see each other out the corners of their eyes, but Ash was reminded of how familiar he was with Misty's face. He could see her in profile, but he was instantly able to imagine what the rest of her face was doing with certainty.

"I think we need to save the world," he said suddenly. "Because then we'll be able to catch up again like old times."

Misty raised an eyebrow at him and Ash knew she was looking at him with disbelief. "Really? Not to save the Pokémon?"

Ash shrugged. "Well, the people and Pokémon are a given."

Maybe he should have been taking this time, this brief respite to ask more questions about all that he had missed. But really, it was just too tempting to spend time with Misty while he had the chance. But as he was content to sit with her in silence, Alain, with his eyes to the ceiling, said, "Do you hear that sound?"

Ash stopped chewing momentarily in order to hear whatever it was Alain thought was happening. Then he heard it. Something that sounded like a strong motor running outside. But he wasn't sure what it could be, since the electricity was out.

"That sounds like a helicopter," Clemont said after a moment.

"I think so too," Alain agreed.

"But why would a helicopter come here?" Clemont asked. "Surely this Pokémon Center is too packed with people for someone to be helilifted here."

"It's probably a news helicopter, right?" Misty offered.

Xerosic shook his head. "No, that would be high up above. Especially with the smoke, it would have to be really high to even be able to see the cloud. This sounds like it's just outside."

"Well, let's look," Ash said.

The group raced to a window that normally would have provided a view of a streetlamp-lit street. Instead, it was obscured by the debris cloud. But, unlike before, the cloud wasn't a solid mass, growing to expand over the whole city. Now it was being ripped apart this way and that, dust shifting in every direction like someone was sweeping it up.

"We should go see what it's here for!" Ash exclaimed, running for the door.

Misty grabbed his arm and stopped him. "No, Ash, we can't go out there. The air is probably toxic. We should only go out when we have a plan to get to that Giant Rock Xerosic told us about."

"I'm going to go," Alain said. "If there's a helicopter out there, I'm sure it's something important. I'll just put a cloth over my mouth."

Ash was already taking off his jacket in order to hold it against his nose and mouth. "Me too. I have to go." He looked back at Misty, who was still eyeing him warily. "Really, Misty. I'm feeling fine."

"Then I'm going too."

"Me too!" Bonnie added.

"Oh no, you're not." Clemont put a hand firmly on Bonnie's shoulder. "If it's anything important, then Ash will come back and get us. Otherwise, I want you staying out of that air. We've all already breathed too much of it in."

Bonnie pouted, but didn't try to argue. "Okay, but only if Ash promises to come back."

"You know what?" Ash walked over to where Pikachu was still eating, though much slower than when he'd first started, and patted his Pokémon's head. "I'm going to leave Pikachu here with you guys. Then you know I have to come back."

That was good enough for Bonnie. "Fine, then. But come back quick!"

As Ash, Misty, and Alain left the room, Ash knew that Clemont wanted to come with them; he didn't want to be left behind. And Bonnie would already be making more arguments as to why she should join. But Ash was most surprised when he noticed Xerosic following behind them to the front door. Then again, he had as much right as the rest of them to check out what was going on.

When they made it to the front entryway, Ash noticed all the dust that had settled on the ground. He wasn't sure how long the door might have been open, but there were whole sections of the floor that were now carpeted by an opaque layer of dust. No wonder Misty didn't want him breathing that stuff.

"Okay, everyone, I'm going to open the door and you guys need to run out as quickly as possible and I'll close the door behind us," Alain said. "I have the key. So let's cover our faces now."

Alain used his fluffy scarf, which already had a bit of soot on it, to cover his nose and mouth. Ash and Misty did the same with their jackets, and Xerosic pulled a crisp, white handkerchief out of his pocket. Alain looked at the others and gestured for them to move toward the door.

They lined up in front, then he gave a nod. In a muffled voice, Alain said, "One, two, three, go!"

He whipped the door open and immediately swirling air began to whip into the room. Ash ran out first, taking Misty with him as he reached for her hand in the low visibility, then went Xerosic, then the door slammed with Alain outside. And, sure enough, there was a helicopter outside—that much they could see. Its blades were still going, although it was on the ground, and they were clearing the dust so that they could catch glimpses of the aircraft. But that's all Ash could make out.

So he moved in toward it. The wind was strong, but he'd pushed through worse. His eyes stung, though. This stuff was definitely worse than snow, but perhaps on par with a sandstorm. At least on the surface. It probably was more dangerous than sand, but it was largely easier to blink out of your eyes.

The first thing of note Ash saw was a flash of red. He couldn't quite tell if it was a trick of the eye and his swirling surroundings, but he thought that it was moving. Maybe it was a person. The blur had been right in front of the helicopter, so he continued on his path until he saw another flash: a shock of blue. This one was blowing in the wind in a way that made Ash think it was hair. Human hair. He supposed he shouldn't have been surprised, as where there was a running helicopter, there were likely humans, but he was honestly shocked to see anyone out in this hellscape. Anyone other than himself and his friends, that was.

"Hey!" he shouted, trying to get the people's attention. But there was no way for them to hear his muffled voice over the sound of the helicopter whirring right next to them. So he'd have to get closer.

Ash wasn't sure if his companions were following him. Maybe they should have decided to all hold hands…though that wouldn't have worked, since they were all holding things to their faces. Well, maybe they should have decided on something. But, as it was, he hadn't gone far and he needed to see who those people were.

As he got closer, he saw that there were, indeed, two people, and they had moved to sit in the helicopter's front two seats. It suddenly occurred to Ash that maybe they were about to take off again, so he lurched forward and banged on the driver's side door. He looked up to see a pair of green eyes meeting his, and it was all he could do not to gasp into his jacket. But he couldn't hold back the words that always flew out when he saw that face.

"Team Rocket!"

* * *

Charlene had never actually seen lava. She'd never been outside of Kalos and, thankfully, there weren't any volcanoes in the region. Still, as she looked at the usually pink, lovely sundial, she thought this must be what lava looked like.

She was not the only person staring, transfixed by the sundial. The streets of Anistar City were mostly deserted—probably people sheltering inside, preparing for the worst—but those who had ventured out, or perhaps hadn't yet heard of the news in Lumiose, were stuck in front of the sundial. The residents of this city were all used to the sundial as a fixture of their lives. Yes, it was a natural wonder, but when you lived right by one, you'd pass it with little thought more often than not. But now, as it glowed red, seeming to grow angrier as the sky darkened, no one could simply pass by it.

And, Charlene feared, no one could protect it.

But it had been Olympia's wish that Charlene find a way and, by Mew, she would. She was sure that she'd be able to round up some of the fellow psychics from the Gym—they would want to take up Olympia's cause as well. But these were beginner and intermediate-level psychics. They weren't fighters—or at least not particularly strong ones. Not like Olympia herself. So that was only a starting point. Who else could she rally to the cause?

The question answered itself. As Charlene had often seen in her time as a psychic, the past version of herself had been looking out for her present self. Because there, approaching the sundial, were Grant and Viola, two of the region's Gym Leaders.

Charlene could have wept with joy at the sight of the two of them. They must have seen the sundial, but they weren't staring at it, frozen in inaction. They were walking toward _her_ , eyes set and even the smallest of smiles on their faces.

"Hey, Charlene!" Viola called out, as though it were any other day and they were passing each other on the sidewalk.

Before Charlene could muster a reply, she saw another figure just behind the two of them. Wulfric. And before she could comment on that, Viola waved past her and exclaimed, "Valerie!"

Charlene whipped around and sure enough, Valerie was there. Then Ramos riding in on his Gogoat, and lastly, Korrina, sweeping in on her roller skates.

"Am I late?" she shouted.

Charlene was verklempt with relief and needed a moment before she could say, "No! You're just in time!"

Her gaze spun around, taking in each of the Gym Leaders, approaching her from all sides as though sent by Zygarde itself. And judging by the righteous anger on each and every one of their faces, they were ready to raise some absolute hell.

* * *


	9. Gathering

As soon as Ash and the rest of them had left the room, Bonnie had begun whining again about wanting to go with them. A part of Clemont was so relieved to be reunited with his sister that he didn't care…but of course the other part was a little irritated. He was certain that when he'd been seven, he would have grasped the severity of the situation they were in a little better than his sister seemed to be doing.

"Bonnie, take this moment just to rest a little," he suggested. "It's getting late and it's been a very long day. I'm sure you're just tired."

"I'm not tired!" Bonnie shouted with a stomp of her foot.

"Well, I'm tired," Clemont admitted, leaning against the cabinets and sliding to the floor. His feet immediately began to pound now that the weight was off them. He could hardly imagine the relief he'd feel whenever he got to take off his shoes. He might never wear shoes—or a backpack, for that matter—again. "And I'm sure Squishy is too. So you can join me or not."

Bonnie stared petulantly at Clemont for a moment, lip jutted out and eyes narrowed in prepubescent fury. Then her eyes turned to Squishy—still in canine forme and not bothering with the PokéChow—who walked over to Clemont and sat down. That was enough for Bonnie to break down, barely holding her pose for a few seconds before collapsing on the ground next to him with a heavily sighed, " _Fine_."

Then Clemont could breathe again. He let out a sigh and closed his eyes. It was all too tempting. Even with the handle of one of the cabinet doors pressing into his shoulder blade, he thought that he could fall asleep right there. His eyelids were heavy and now that some of the day's adrenaline had worked out of his system, he was ready to sleep like he'd never slept before.

Then he saw Lumiose Tower explode. Then he saw it fall. Then the plume of dust and dirt and fiberglass heading his way, into his mouth and the lungs of all his friends. Then his eyes shot open.

Come to think of it, if he was ever able to sleep tonight, he was sure it would be a long time coming. No matter how things ended up going. So he contented himself with slinging an arm around Bonnie's shoulder and tilting his head onto hers. Her hair was dusty and dirty, but he could still feel the warmth of her scalp, the soft skin of her bicep. He couldn't make out her familiar scent, but it was still Bonnie. And even though he was supposed to be the one making her feel safe, he realized that she'd been doing that for him. Always.

The respite only lasted for a couple minutes before Clemont heard thundering footsteps—Ash's, he assumed—running down the hallway. Bonnie immediately jumped up, but Clemont was more sluggish to do so. The renewed pressure on his feet really made them feel worse than ever.

"Hurry, we're going to take the helicopter to the Giant Rock!"

That was all a soot-covered Ash said as he poked his head into the room and then darted back down the hallway. Pikachu was the first to chase after him with Bonnie and Squishy quick to follow. As usual, Clemont stumbled behind. For a moment, it felt like so many instances on their journey where Ash and Bonnie—and Serena—ran ahead while Clemont struggled to keep up. Almost.

When they made it to the front door, Clemont realized that Ash was the only one of the group to have come back; Clemont assumed that the rest were in the helicopter. With Pikachu now on his shoulder and his jacket held up to both their faces, Ash said, "Cover your mouth."

Bonnie grabbed her purse in her tiny hands and said, "I miss Dedenne." Then, with fortitude, she lifted it to her face and declared, "Ready." Squishy, while having all the parts Clemont would expect, say, a Furfrou or a Houndoom to have, didn't seem to breathe like they did, so he assumed it would be fine.

Clemont didn't really have anything extra on his person to cover his mouth with. He was wearing a onesie and that was it. So he took a deep breath, covered his mouth with the crook of his elbow and gave Ash a nod. With that, Ash nodded back and pushed open the door.

It was like stepping into the worst blizzard he could imagine. Everything was gray and swirling and the ash and dust quickly began sticking to his glasses. Clemont could only shuffle ahead, feeling for the steps that he was terrified would cause him to slip at any moment. Then he felt ridiculous. Of all the things they were enduring today, the scariest thing was falling down some stairs?

Still, it only took a minute or two of slow shuffling and muffled breathing to make it to the helicopter. A hand reached for his and he was hoisted into the helicopter. Ash and Bonnie had already made it, and Clemont was left standing hunched over, looking for a place to sit. Awkwardly, he asked, "How many people is this helicopter supposed to carry?"

From the front, he heard the alarmingly distinct voice of Meowth saying, "Carrying capacity is seven humans. But yous all are on da small side, so what's it matta?"

Clemont balked as he quickly counted the occupants. "This is eight humans, plus three Pokémon!" he exclaimed. "It can't be safe to fly!"

"We have no other way of getting anywhere," Ash said. "We have to."

"Squishy, can you get smaller?" Bonnie asked.

At her command, Squishy seemed to break apart, turning from its canine forme to its smaller one. The one that they'd known as Squishy for the past many months. And as Squishy crawled into Bonnie's bag alone, there was suddenly a great deal more room in the helicopter.

"Come on, big brother," Bonnie added, popping out of her seat next to Ash. "You can sit here and I'll sit on your lap."

Clemont sighed, but knew Ash was right. He shouldn't be one to look a gift Horsea in the mouth. "Fine. Let's go."

* * *

"Alright, shitheads," Malva started once all the heroes—and Xerosic—had left the room. "If anyone's thinking, oh, she only pretended to join the good side and now she's stayed back to hatch an evil plan, you're wrong."

The scene before her was bleak. Two grunts who, at this point, looked both terrified and grateful to have been forgotten, and Aliana and Bryony, all of whom were slowly regaining full control of their bodies. The grunts were better off than Aliana and Bryony, at least; they could already balance on their own two feet, though their steps were halting and robotic. They must have been hit with a smaller dosage.

It did make Malva feel sickly superior to be the only able-bodied person in the group, but she knew that wasn't why she was in charge.

It was because she, unlike the rest of these idiots, was the only one who had denounced Team Flare. Although, she wouldn't be surprised if the grunts weren't far behind her. After all, they'd never signed on to some Armageddon plan either.

"Y-You're the shhhhhithead," Bryony spat out. Her words still stuttered out, but the finer muscles in her face were working to produce quite the snarl. Her brain still seemed fucking paralyzed, though; that insult wasn't even worth responding to.

They were still in the room outside the treatment room at the lab with Aliana and Bryony on one couch. The two Flare grunts had joined and were on the other couch. Malva, meanwhile, was pacing.

"You're not going to try anything, are you?" Malva snapped, looking at the two grunts.

They were nameless, faceless, just as Lysandre had intended. Their looks had been taken from the disguises-slash-fashion statements that the quadruplets wore and homogenized. Instead of disguise and individualism, the grunts went with disguise and regularity. With the identical hair colors, glasses, and uniforms, no one would ever be able to pick them out of a lineup. That had been a decent idea of Lysandre's. Who would have imagined the same guy who could come up with that plan would be the same one to come up with this multi-stage end of the world scenario?

The grunts recoiled in their seats, and shook their heads rather slowly. It was probably as quickly as they could go at the moment, though.

One was a boy and one was a girl, that much Malva could differentiate. Well, probably. It's not like she knew their preferred pronouns or anything. But with the tight pants of the unisex Team Flare costume, and the unobscured parts of their faces, Malva felt comfortable enough guessing.

"Great," she said dryly. "My job is half-done."

The sofas in the room faced each other with a table in the middle. The grunts were on the one closest to where Malva stood with the girls across from them. Malva knew she had to stay on this side of the sofas, otherwise she might wring their necks, especially now while they were all but defenseless.

"How could you let this happen?" she finally burst out. "You knew about this crazy scheme and you went along with it like a bunch of Lillipup?"

"You wen…nt along with s-some of it," Aliana said. "Just look i-in the m-m-mirror."

"I fucking have!" Malva shouted. "Why don't you?"

Malva's face was hot. It was hot and the pacing wasn't helping. She threw her hands onto her head, the wrist of one arm resting in the hand of the other, and she tried to take deep breaths.

She would not cry. Not today. Not here in front of these girls who wanted to see her weakness. Not while the heroes were off trying to save the world and they'd handed her the easiest job of the day in babysitting four paralyzed losers.

She had fucked up. That was the icing on the cake that was this day that the human world might end. The cake had been baked by Lysandre and she had taken a turn in mixing the frosting. And for what? Power? She couldn't even remember anymore. She hoped to hell it wasn't what she feared it might have been, which was that she'd been bored. Bored when her acquaintance, the handsome, charismatic Lysandre, had approached her with talk of Mega-Evolution energy. Bored enough to say yes, because Lysandre was interesting enough to pique her interest.

She hoped to hell and back that that wasn't the origin of her filthy footnote in history. But she couldn't bear to contemplate it at the moment.

"Is Lysandre really dead?"

The question came from one of the grunts, the female one. Malva did her best to pull herself together.

"Yes," she answered. "Right as he hit the fucking self-destruct button on the world, he hit it on himself too. I saw it. And if what Xerosic said is true, then there's no way that he would have faked that."

There was no further questioning from the girl, and Malva was glad for it. Malva was old and important enough to have been to a few funerals in her day, but she'd never seen someone die before. And there was something about suicide in particular that was especially chilling.

Wordlessly, Malva reached into her pocket and pulled out a PokéBall, releasing Pyroar.

"Okay, guys, I'm gonna get you lot some water and Pyroar's gonna watch you. Don't think this is your chance to get away, because she's quite tired. I know that sounds like a bad thing, and it is, for you, because it just means that it won't be controlling its strength. So unless you want to be bit in two, I suggest staying put."

She said the words while staring at the window into the other room, the mini Pokémon Center. The generator-less Center. Then she turned on her heel and made it out of the room before her pace elongated. She went to the kitchen where Alain had fetched the water earlier and ran to the sink, slamming her hands on the countertop. She pushed hard, letting the marble edge dig into her palms.

She wanted to scream. She would have, but Malva knew that a sound that loud would probably carry back to where everyone else was. So she held it in, gritting her teeth and groaning from deep within her. The sound she produced scratched at her vocal chords and hurt a little bit, but she didn't care. She needed to fucking scream.

Then the growling groan gave way to a keen. She fell to her knees, forearms hitting the counter and she wept. It was messy and unrestrained as tears began to course tracks through the layers of sweat, grime, and old makeup on her face.

She cried for the world, on this terrible day that they might not make it through. She cried for herself, a participant in both sides of this terrible, ongoing event. But mostly, she knew, she cried for Lysandre. The last thing she'd done was try to defeat him. She'd wanted him to lose. She'd wanted him to pay. But somehow, she'd never, ever wanted him to die. So, naturally, he'd gone and done it anyway.

And she wanted to see the victory in it. The arbiter of this catastrophe had taken his own life before he could personally sew any more chaos. But all she felt was hurt.

Because deep down in a part of herself that she'd never been willing to acknowledge, that she _still_ wasn't fully willing to admit, she had loved him.

She had loved him and he was dead. And so she cried.

* * *

"What do you want us to do?"

Korrina was the one who posed the question, and Charlene was left dumbfounded. These were, next to the Elite Four, the region's best Trainers. They were tacticians first and foremost, but they also had a good deal of brute strength. She knew who each and every one of them was, but most she hadn't met before. And those she had, it had always been because they were seeing Olympia.

And now they were turning to her for direction?

Only six Gym Leaders were there, of course. Olympia was at the hospital and Clemont was absent. This wasn't surprising, because he was the only Gym Leader of the group who wasn't actively at his Gym. Not to mention his hometown was the one under attack right now. But everyone else was present: Korrina, Viola, Grant, Ramos, Valerie, and Wulfric. Charlene was tempted to look to Wulfric or maybe Ramos to take the lead—their experience had to mean something over hers, right?—but that wasn't the role she was supposed to play today. They were here for her; she would guide them as she did the trainee psychics at the Gym.

"We don't know what's coming," Charlene started. "Olympia made a prediction that something was going to endanger the sundial, and we need to prepare for anything."

"Oh, you haven't seen it?" Viola asked.

Charlene didn't know what Viola was talking about, but Viola was already pulling out a screen playing a shaky video of some dark thing moving seemingly very fast. She explained what she and the rest of the Gym Leaders had seen and what had led them to Anistar City.

"Okay," Charlene stated. "Okay, that's good. If we assume that that's our opponent, then at least we know it's a physical thing, right? So all we need to do is combat it."

"I hear that," Wulfric said, reaching into his coat pocket and pulling out a PokéBall. "Abomasnow, go!"

The bipedal ice monster appeared with a cry and a flash of snow.

"Put the snow away, Abomasnow!" Wulfric shouted.

Charlene realized that Abomasnow's Ability was Snow Warning, usually a very helpful Ability for an Ice Type to have in Battle. But, as Wulfric seemed to realize, Charlene wasn't sure what kind of an edge snow could provide them with in this Battle today. She assumed it would only serve to hurt the other Pokémon and do very little against the Giant Rock. Fortunately, at Wulfric's word, Abomasnow was able to dissipate the snow as soon as it had come.

And that was all it took for the rest of the Gym Leaders to begin releasing their Pokémon. Charlene thought about releasing her Espurr, but the truth was that she was a psychic, not a Psychic-Type Trainer. Or both, like Olympia. But before her, she was seeing some of the strongest, most renowned Pokémon in the Kalos region. Ramos' Gogoat, Valerie's Sylveon, Viola's Surskit, Grant's Amaura, and Korrina's Lucario. She knew that Lucario and Abomasnow could Mega-Evolve; these Pokémon had real power.

"We will protect the sundial, Charlene!" Korrina declared. "Now we need to talk strategy."

"Yes, none of us have ever battled together before," Valerie added.

"And only a few of us have battled against each other," Viola said with a wink towards Grant.

"But we know much about each other's battling styles," Ramos said. "That will set us up for success."

Korrina nodded at the group before turning to Lucario and shouting, "Lucario, Swords Dance!"

Charlene watched as Lucario closed its eyes, as if in mediation. It reminded Charlene of when she mediated, trying to grow a clearer connection with her psychic abilities. The faint image of two swords appeared in front of it, and when it opened its eyes, they were bright red.

Korrina shrugged at Charlene's attention. "It's never too early to start bulking up."

"Korrina's right!" Viola agreed. "Surskit, Sticky Web!"

Surskit aimed behind the lot of them, closer to the sundial, and began to shoot bits of webbing in its direction. It was building a huge net, hopefully as big as—if not bigger—than the giant rock itself.

"If we can make a few of these, hopefully we can stop it in its tracks," Viola explained. "Or at least slow it down."

"That's right," Ramos said. "We don't know how much time we have, so we might as well make all the preparations we can with the time that we've got."

* * *

_"Hello, world. We're back in the air and back covering the ongoing Kalos disaster."_

"Guys, guys! They're back on the news!" Sawyer exclaimed, drawing the attention of everyone in the Pokémon Center. "Shh!"

Sawyer recognized the voice on the television to be that of Jessie, a voice that used to mean danger and distrust, but now it meant truth and information. He leaned forward on the couch.

 _"I'm sure all our viewers have seen Diantha's footage of the mysterious object on the move on the outskirts of Lumiose City. We are currently in pursuit of said object and will keep you all updated as we can."_ There was muffled conversation in the background and Jessie looked to someone on her side. _"What are you—You know I'm on the air, right? Live? Do you know what—Fine. Yes, fine. Meowth?"_

The camera shifted away from Jessie, and she handed her microphone over to someone else. Sawyer couldn't help but exclaim, "It's Ash!"

Everyone in the Pokémon Center knew who he was from the Lumiose Conference. Sawyer wouldn't be surprised to find out that everyone had been in physical attendance at the stadium that afternoon, but at the very least, he'd bet that they'd all caught the final Battle between Ash and Alain on the TV. But still, no one knew him as well as Sawyer did, except maybe Tierno, Trevor, and Shauna.

 _"Hello, everyone,"_ Ash started, his voice uncharacteristically serious. _"I've, uh, actually missed a lot of the, what, events?"_ he looked off-screen. _"Events of today. But I just wanted to say that Lysandre is dead. I really don't know if that's a good or a bad thing, but it at least means that he can't carry out any more evil plans today. Himself, that is."_

That announcement caused a gasp to whisper across the room. Sawyer instantly wanted to know more. Had he been killed? Had he been a part of Lumiose Tower exploding? Had it been a part of his plan? How would that make sense? He could hear similar questions being whispered about the room as well, but he quickly focused back on the screen.

_"We're heading to the Giant Rock—oh, uh, I guess you hadn't said what it is yet. It's a big, powerful rock that we need to stop. And we're going to stop it while Team R—er, the news crew here covers it. But we're going to battle it, and we're going to win. And then all of this will be over. I promise we'll do whatever it takes to make that happen."_

Ash really had no experience speaking on camera, that much was obvious. Sawyer hadn't realized what a good job Jessie had been doing until now, looking at Ash fumbling with his words. But Sawyer was also sure that his perspective was one that everyone would be interested in hearing.

 _"That's all we have to cover right now,"_ Jessie said, snatching the mic back as the camera swiveled back to her. _"In an effort to save our battery, we'll be going back off the air, but don't switch off your television. I promise we'll be back soon. Jessie, over and out."_

The screen stayed on her stoic face for a few seconds longer before shutting off and going to a regular news anchor and some special guests who immediately began responding to the new footage, speculating about what the Giant Rock might be and what threat it carried. But Sawyer tuned their voices out as he sunk back into the couch.

Suddenly, he felt inexplicably better. Ash was there. He hadn't realized it, but he had been so incredibly worried about Ash, someone who always seemed to find himself in the center of the action. But in that footage, he looked well. Hadn't he? As well as anyone looked in any case.

But more than anything, Sawyer trusted Ash. No matter what anyone else said, or what the outcome of the Lumiose Conference might have been, Ash was a hero. He was a victor. If anyone could save the day, Sawyer wouldn't place his bet on Alain or Clemont or even Diantha. His money was on Ash all the way.

Now he'd just have to wait and believe.

* * *

"Okay, _Twerp_ ," Jessie snarled once the camera was down. They were sitting shoulder to shoulder, cramped in the overcrowded helicopter, and Jessie was putting extra pressure into Ash's bicep. "The next time you wanna do some improv, you'd better sign a release form, okay?"

Ash blinked at her. "What?"

"She just means that you should have asked before jumping into a live broadcast," the red-headed twerp explained, short-cutting the conversation. Jessie didn't know how long it might have taken her to explain the concept to Ash.

"Yes, thank you," she said.

"Sorry," he didn't sound sorry, "but I wanted to tell the world that stuff. And I wanted to say it before I forgot it."

Jessie groaned. "Whatever."

The mood in the helicopter was tense. James was in the front, steering, while Xerosic had taken the copilot seat, as he was the only one who would be able to direct them to an approximate location. That left Jessie, Ash, Misty, Clemont, Bonnie, Alain, Meowth, and a handful of other Pokémon that Jessie had tried to steal at some point in time. And, aside from the lack of space, Jessie could feel the latent energy of inaction steaming off of the twerps. This was not a patient bunch.

And she wasn't either. She picked up the orange-haired sub-twerp's camera and began to busily take shots of the crew in the helicopter and the limited view outside.

"Do you know where you're going, James?"

Xerosic was the one who answered. "I know where the Giant Rock was and where it's going. Its nature is to go in a perfectly straight line, as the Crobat flies. It'll knock through anything to maintain that hypotenuse of travel. I have no idea where it is on that line. But I bet that we can find its wake, even in this dark.

The sun had set entirely. And even as they left the city, there was now enough smoke in the sky that the stars and the moon were blocked out. Ash looked down at the ground and couldn't see much of anything. There were certain dark spots that appeared to be clusters of trees contrasting from the vaguely lighter ground, but he couldn't make out any more details than that. He didn't know exactly what Xerosic thought that they were looking for, but he wasn't sure he'd be able to see a ditch or a trail of dust that anything had created. Even something huge.

"Rather, even if _we_ can't see it, I bet our Pokémon can."

"Wha?" Meowth asked, seemingly confused at having been brought into the conversation. "What now?"

"Can you see anything out the window, Meowth?" James asked.

Suddenly, Ash hoped that James could see a lot more out the window than he could. And Xerosic. How were they steering when it was so dark? Was there a GPS?

Meowth used Jessie to crawl on and stood on tiptoes in her lap, leaning over her shoulder. Jessie scowled but, surprisingly, didn't say anything. "Yeah, I can see bits an' pieces."

"Great, then keep an eye out. You too, Pikachu," Xerosic instructed.

Pikachu was already situated on Ash's shoulder; all he had to do was turn around and press his paws to the glass, which he did immediately. Ash wasn't sure what he thought about Pikachu taking commands from Xerosic, but he supposed there wasn't much choice in this situation.

"You too, Squishy!" Bonnie said, taking it out of her bag and holding it both up to a window from her spot on Clemont's lap.

"What do we do when we see it?" Clemont asked.

There was quiet. Ash had to assume that the question had been directed towards Xerosic, as the one with the most information. The one most likely to have a plan. But the man kept his eyes forward, as though he hadn't even heard Clemont.

"…I suppose we'll have to trust our Pokémon and not give up until we win."

The answer came from Alain, though Ash had been thinking the same thing. All they had was their Pokémon. And they were fighting against something that was nothing but power and energy. So that's what they'd have to come at it with.

Now the only question was: how?

* * *

"Use Psychic, Gardevoir!" Diantha called. "Try to control it!"

Diantha watched from atop her still-running Tyrantrum as Gardevoir focused, staring at the Giant Rock as it continued to tear through the countryside. Hawlucha was still on the Giant Rock itself, but Diantha wasn't sure of the progress it was making in trying to break down the Rock, so she had called upon Gardevoir again. She watched for the telltale glow that showed that Gardevoir was utilizing her Psychic energy. Gardevoir _was_ glowing, but the Giant Rock was not. Not that Diantha could see, anyway.

"Keep trying, Gardevoir!"

If Gardevoir could put the Giant Rock under her power, then she could get it to stop in its tracks. Or lift it in the air. _Something_. Then they could figure out how to stop or destroy it properly.

But that wasn't happening. Either the Giant Rock was too big or Gardevoir was too tired, or maybe the Rock contained some kind of power that kept her Psychic Attack from working. Whatever it was, Diantha knew a losing strategy when she saw it.

"Okay, Gardevoir, stop! It's not worth it!"

As Gardevoir stopped, she whipped around to blast a vine with a quickly-formed Shadow Ball. Being so close to the tangle of roots at the base of the Rock meant that they kept on snapping toward Diantha and Tyrantrum, not to mention Gardevoir and Hawlucha. Fortunately, their accuracy wasn't precise, and Diantha was able to steer Tyrantrum out of the way of most of them. But Tyrantrum couldn't keep up its pace and attack at the same time, and Hawlucha was busy trying to damage the Rock itself. All this left Diantha dangerously vulnerable, and she knew it.

Still, she looked at Gardevoir and lifted her PokéBall, returning the Pokémon again. The best move for Gardevoir for the moment was to retreat and recover. She was strong, but not invincible. Rest was invaluable at the moment, and Diantha was sure that she'd need her later.

As Diantha's attention returned to the Rock itself, looking to where she'd released Hawlucha, she quickly noticed that Hawlucha wasn't the only one there anymore. There was an Aggron and a Pancham and they were hitting the Giant Rock with everything they had. She barely managed to duck out of the way of a careening vine before her gaze turned to the sky.

In the dark it was hard to make out, but she was sure that she saw a few forms flying in the air. At the very least, she was fairly sure she could make out a Metagross. A Shiny one at that. And where there was a Shiny Metagross, Diantha could only bet that there was Steven Stone.

Diantha felt a bit of relief unwind the anxiety that had been spooling and growing in her belly. Steven was another Champion. He wasn't Champion of Kalos, but he still had the expertise, the skill, and the Pokémon to take some of the responsibility off her shoulders and onto his. And that was enough for her to feel a second wind kick in. Or, at this point, probably more like a fifth wind.

He directed his Metagross to descend and as he reached an arm towards her, Diantha realized he wanted her to climb aboard.

Her first thought was: _where_? Steven, plus who Diantha now realized to be Ash's friend Serena and another girl, made the little standing room atop Metagross quite crowded. They were all already holding onto each other for balance, and Diantha's impulse was to lift a hand and say, "I'm good."

But she thought about Tyrantrum below her. Tyrantrum was running at top speed, basically sprinting. And it had been for a while. Meanwhile, Metagross was over a thousand pounds and was doing just fine levitating and flying along; her added weight would be trivial.

When it came down to it, the choice was obvious. So, she reached up and took Steven's hand, letting him swing her up to join the rest of them on Metagross's back. Tyrantrum immediately began to fall back, clearly relieved that Diantha was off its back, and that it no longer had to keep pace with the Giant Rock.

"Tyrantrum, return!" Diantha cried before it got out of range. With Steven's arm now wrapped around her and the two girls gripping his middle, Diantha beamed up at Steven. "I'm so happy to see you."

Steven let out a single laugh. "Hah! I'm glad to see you too."

She saw a cringe cross his face, though, and instantly grew concerned. "Are you hurt?"

"Just a little sore," Steven said. "Nothing to worry about, though."

They fell back a little further from the Rock when a few vines came at them, sensing the new enemy in the sky, and Diantha took in the new view. Now that she was in the air, she could see that flying beside Metagross was a Garchomp with Professor Sycamore on it. She was just about as happy to see the professor as she was Steven. When he saw her looking down at him, he waved up at her. She could do little more than tilt her chin up at him and then return her attention to Steven.

"I take it that's your Aggron down there?" she asked, gesturing down to the Rock.

"Sure is," Steven replied. "And that's Serena's Pancham down there giving it hell as well."

Diantha's eyes fell on Serena, who blushed, giving a little wave from just her wrist so she didn't have to let go of Steven. "Hello, Madam Champion."

"Serena, of course. Nice to be meeting you again," Diantha said before turning her attention to the other girl. "I'm sorry, I'm not sure we've met."

"I'm Mairin," Mairin said meekly. "Thank you for all that you do, Madam Champion."

It felt absurd to be playing the role of the diplomatic Champion, introducing herself to citizens when there was a potential death machine charging below them with their Pokémon atop it. The many hats of the Championship were sitting heavy atop her head that evening, that was for sure.

"Diantha, do you have a plan?"

It was Steven who'd asked. She saw the hesitancy on his face, as though he'd been dreading asking it. But he'd had to. Which she knew. But it only made the weight that had just felt lifted tumble back upon her shoulders.

"No," she admitted. If she were speaking to the people of Kalos right now, perhaps she would say something a bit more nuanced, or even fib a little. But in front of Steven, and even these two girls who were evidently trying to help as well, candor just came out. "I'm just trying everything until something sticks."

Assuming something would. It was possible that this behemoth of a rock was impenetrable. It was certainly the kind of thing an evil mastermind would try to harness. But if she thought that way, then she might just give up. And she wasn't going to do that until she literally died trying.

"Okay, we'll do the same," Steven said with a grin that must have taken a Herculean effort to form. "Don't worry, Diantha. You're not alone. We got this."

* * *

Malva slowly made her way back to the room where her captives were being held. Somehow after the physically exhausting afternoon she'd faced, a few minutes of crying on her knees were what had really done her in. If she'd stayed leaning against that counter any longer, she might have fallen asleep then and there. So she'd forced herself back up, back to her task if just to be alive for some reason. Miraculously, she still had her sunglasses on her person, so she'd put them on to cover the red in her eyes and made her slow strut back to the job at hand.

However, when she made it back to the room with the sofas, one sofa was upturned, her Pyroar was pacing around the room angrily, and she suddenly had half the captives she'd had before she left. Immediately, Malva felt a bit more awake than she had before.

"What the fuck‽" she shouted. "Where'd they go? Pyroar?"

She looked at Pyroar, who was angrily pawing at the ground, leaving scratches on the floor. Malva couldn't care less what the Professor would think about that. Fortunately, one of the grunts piped up, saving Pyroar from having to tell its story via scrawls.

"Their paralysis must have worn off," the female grunt said, her voice also sounding a bit better. Some of her consonants still lingered unnaturally, but she was stuttering less. "The one with the green hair released a Liepard and it used S-Sucker Punch on Pyroar."

That explained why Pyroar was so angry. Malva wasn't against using cheap tricks herself when she got lazy in a match—which, admittedly, had been often in the past few years—but she hated when they were used successfully against her. She supposed that sentiment was shared by her Pokémon.

"Well, where'd they go?"

That's where the grunt stopped being useful. "I don't know. They ran out. Not super fast, so I guess they're still kinda paralyzed, but they were probably going as fast as they could."

"Fuck," Malva seethed, returning Pyroar to its 'Ball. "Fuck, fuckity, fuck."

She ripped off her sunglasses and put on her regular ones, knowing she'd need all the visibility she could get outside. Then she took them off, figuring they'd gunk up too much from the soot. Then she put them back on, growling a little. She was already wasting her time.

"One job," she hissed to herself. "One fucking job. You've gotta be kidding me."

"You can use my goggles," the male grunt offered, taking his off and handing them to Malva. "They might provide a little more protection."

With the goggles off, suddenly Malva could see the boy's whole face. And he really _was_ a boy. Probably only sixteen or seventeen. The skin behind his goggles was unmarred from dust and grime and instead by teenage acne. But his brown eyes were crystal clear. Malva took a difficult breath. _These_ were the people who were pawns in Lysandre's plan?

"Thank you," she said tentatively, reaching out for them and placing them on her face.

The color of them wasn't too different from her sunglasses, so it didn't take her long to grow accustomed to them. She gave a curt nod to the two grunts, and then ran out of the room. She wasn't worried about leaving them alone. They were kids. Kids who, despite what a court of law might think if they made it through all this, definitely had no interest in the world being destroyed. Not like Aliana and Bryony did. And in case there really was something they could do to keep that plan on track and this wasn't just a mad dash for freedom, they had to be stopped. She wouldn't let them get in the way of what Xerosic and Ash and the rest of them were doing.

Malva reached the lab's front door. She took one last deep breath of clean air, then took the cowl neck of her shirt and brought it up to cover her nose and mouth. It was damp with sweat and already had some dirt and dust caked in it, but Malva was certain it was better than nothing. Then she whipped the front door open, let the omnipresent dust take her, and took off running.

* * *

The sun had set. The sky was still a mid-toned blue, not fully black, but everything around him was turning to colorless shapes. Dedenne's fur was losing its orange brilliance and becoming a flat brown. And Zygarde was still lying in front of Meyer, still staring him down.

"Are you feeling any better?" Meyer asked, breaking their long silence.

Zygarde didn't answer, but it did shift to what was 'standing' for the odd little guy. If one could call it standing when the creature didn't have any legs. The movement came with enough ease that Meyer felt confident that some of its strength had returned. That gave him a speck of relief. Dedenne seemed to agree, as it leapt off Meyer's lap, suddenly looking quite energetic and cheerful itself.

"Well, I think you look better," he said. "And I'm glad to see it."

Zygarde looked back at Meyer with a bit of disdain—though, since it had hardly showed a different expression in his presence, Meyer wasn't completely sure that this wasn't just what its face looked like—and began hopping away.

"Wait!" Meyer cried, already feeling their previous song and dance starting up again. "Please, hear me out!"

Dedenne began chasing Zygarde again, seemingly happy that their old game had started up again. It couldn't follow for long, though, as Zygarde stopped quickly, though it didn't turn back to look at Meyer. That was enough opportunity for him to snatch, though.

"The world is still in danger," Meyer said, suddenly feeling like he was pitching to a client. Being a more hands-on kind of guy, he knew that this was a weak point of his. But he had no choice but to barrel forward. "Some people are already trying to fix things, but I think we're going to need your help. I'm sure that Squishy—you're friends with Squishy, right?—is also going to help. I think if the two of you could work together, then we might be able to fix this mess."

Zygarde was unmoved. It glanced back at Meyer just enough in order to turn away. It certainly was a sassy little guy.

"You don't want to help?"

It shook its head.

"Nene?" Dedenne squeaked.

Meyer crouched down behind them. "Yeah, why not?" he asked desperately. "You're meant to protect Kalos, aren't you?"

Its head tilted to the side, as though in a shrug.

"You care about Kalos, right? You want to save it?"

A barely perceptible nod.

"Then why don't you?"

Zygarde turned around and jutted its neck out towards Meyer.

"Because of me?"

Zygarde shook its head, but jutted its neck out at Meyer again.

Meyer had never been especially adept at charades. Of course, these were the kind of games you had to go through whenever communicating with your Pokémon. But the longer you were with a Pokémon, the easier it was to communicate. And most other Pokémon at least spoke a little. In gibberish, of course, but you could understand a little better with tone and pitch, like he just had with Dedenne. This Zygarde was giving him nothing.

"It's not me, but it's like me?" Meyer asked, pressing his hands against his eyes, suddenly exhausted. Well, he'd _been_ exhausted, of course, but it was one thing to be exhausted and desperately want to keep moving. It was another to be exhausted and stuck talking to a Legendary Pokémon who seemed to hate you. He was done with this conversation.

Zygarde nodded.

"Men?" Meyer asked, still at something of a loss.

Zygarde nodded a little more vigorously, but still looked like it was pushing for more. Then it clicked.

"Man?"

Zygarde gave one firm nod and then turned away again.

Suddenly it made sense. Meyer could see this Zygarde a little more complexly. In a very simple way, he'd been objectifying the creature. In his mind, it was the protector of Kalos, little more than its role. A tired protector of Kalos, if he wanted to add an adjective to it. But this was a Pokémon who had been mind-controlled by Team Flare. Forced to do things that it probably thought were heinous.

Not to mention, its homeland, the land it worked to protect, was being destroyed. Thanks to man. And while Zygarde was the protector of Kalos, that role, according to lore, came from a need to put things back in balance whenever they were thrown off. Perhaps by the Legendary Xerneas and Yveltal fighting or from a natural disaster. But to have to clean up an intentional human mess…no wonder the Pokémon was dealing with a bit of resentment.

As Meyer had been sitting with the revelation, Dedenne had stepped up, chattering away at Zygarde's back. This time, Meyer had no idea what it might be saying, but it seemed as though the little Pokémon was giving a heated argument. Maybe it was recounting some of what had happened between it, Bonnie, and Squishy just a little while earlier. Maybe it was talking about the humans who had been trying to break the mind control. Maybe it was telling something of its journey with the kids that Meyer knew nothing about. But try though it might, Zygarde didn't seem to be listening.

"I'm sorry," Meyer said when Dedenne paused for breath, trying to give the words as much weight and emphasis as possible. "I'm sorry you hate us, and I'm sorry we've given you reason to. But you have to remember this one thing about humans. For every bad one, there are a million good people. And if you'll just let me show you, I can prove that that's what's happening right now. People are trying to fix this. But they might not be able to do it without you."

"Ne!" Dedenne added as one final, impassioned plea.

Zygarde still didn't seem interested. Meyer had shown his hand, played all available cards. He wasn't sure what more of a plea he could make. Perhaps he should try and head in Diantha's direction and try to help however he and Blaziken could and hope that, as the situation grew direr, Zygarde would sense it and follow suit.

Then he saw a beam of green. Then another. And soon, dozens of flashes of green, blinding in the dim evening light, were coming at him, centering on Zygarde. And before his eyes, Zygarde changed into a canine forme. When the transformation was complete, the Pokémon gave a little roar. Meyer was impressed, but unsure what came next, until Zygarde backed up toward him and pressed its side into his hip.

Meyer pointed to himself. "You want us to ride you?"

With begrudging agreement, Zygarde nodded its head and shoved its flank into Meyer again.

Meyer found it somewhere in himself to chuckle. "Okay, fine."

 _Just like riding a vespa_ , Meyer thought to himself as he lifted his leg to sit astride Zygarde. Just as Dedenne had crawled into his lap and Meyer was settled with his arms around Zygarde's neck, almost like a punishment, Zygarde took off. It sprinted down the cliffside and, with no regard for Meyer's or even Dedenne's comfort, headed towards the Giant Rock.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This isn't my usual avenue by which to get political, but I'm just going to hop on my soapbox for a minute or two of your time. I'm sure a lot of you have heard about the continued killing of black people in America and I've been participating in protests against that here in NYC. This story, Zenith, is one of what happens when a person fails to see the humanity in individuals and sees a whole group, who is not his own, as a problem, and decides to take action. Lysandre's story is one of hate, intolerance, and internalized supremacy. But, luckily for this story, his opinion is the minority, in that only a small group of individuals agrees with him. And, more luckily, there is not a history of systems in place to support his opinion. The history of racism in my country is not just one of people who actively espouse hate and commit violent atrocities, as Lysandre does. It's one much more insidious than that where each of us is a participant in a series of systems that legally favor one group over others. And, unfortunately, that's not a problem that one day of heroism can fix. This is not exactly the platform for problems like this to be solved, but I did want to take whatever eyeballs I could and turn them, at least for a moment, to the pervasive issue of racism. Thanks for reading this and, please, research to see what you can do to be a part of the solution. Much love.


	10. Uniting

Clemont had assumed or, rather, hoped that the Giant Rock was the kind of thing that you knew when you saw. It turned out that, contrary to how their luck had been going that day, that was exactly right. Even in the dark of the freshly fallen night, as soon as Bonnie said, "I think I see it!" he knew she was right.

Below them and racing at top speed was, Clemont was sure, the Giant Rock. The rock had a faintly pink glow about it that reflected off of the cloud of dust that was trailing it. Nothing else could simultaneously be providing that glow, be that big, and be heading in the exact direction of the sundial except the Rock itself.

"Get closer to it!" Ash demanded, already strapping out of his seat.

"Hold on, what are you doing?" Misty asked, pulling him back to his spot.

"I'm getting a better look!"

"Then _wait_ ," Misty said sharply.

He obeyed Misty in a way that Clemont rarely saw Ash do. With himself and Serena, hardly anything could stop Ash from barreling toward whatever whimsy crossed his mind.

Despite the squabbling in the back, Clemont felt the helicopter descending and veering towards the Rock. Everyone's hips crunched together a little more as they leaned to one side.

"I see people!" Bonnie cried out, pointing to a spot out the window.

Even with his glasses, Clemont's vision wasn't as good as Bonnie's, and he squinted as he tried to make out whatever she saw. But all he could see was the dust swirling in the air from the quick movement of the Rock.

"You're probably just seeing things in the dust," Clemont said gently.

"No, I see it too," Alain said. "That's Steven Stone's Metagross. I'm sure of it. And Professor Sycamore with his Garchomp."

"Steven Stone?" Misty asked, recognition in her voice. Clemont hadn't a doubt that everyone in the helicopter, except maybe Bonnie, knew exactly who Steven Stone was.

"Get in front of the Rock!" Ash shouted in a voice too loud for the space. "I want to see what's going on better!"

"Trying to," James grit out as he continued to steer the helicopter through the thicker and thicker dust.

Clemont gradually could see a little more out the windows as James managed to navigate around the dust storm. After a moment, he too could see the Metagross Alain had mentioned and suddenly he realized why Alain was so sure he knew the Pokémon's owner; this Metagross was Shiny. He could barely make out a spot in the sky that might have been Professor Sycamore and a Garchomp. Clemont chalked this up to Alain's familiarity with having been Professor Sycamore's assistant coming out again.

"Let me out," Ash insisted, this time fully unbuckling and standing as much as he could in the cramped space.

"Where?" Misty asked.

"Twerp, you're taking up real estate we don't have," Jessie grumbled as his elbow got a bit too close to her face.

"I'm going on the Rock," Ash explained as he shuffled closer to the door.

"What?" Clemont asked, no small amount of panic in his voice. They didn't know anything about the properties of the Rock. It clearly contained a high amount of energy and who knew how that manifested? It could be heat, for all they knew, if the reddish-pink veins they could now see in it were any indication.

"Look, see!" He pointed to the Rock, which was still a little hard for Clemont to make out in the dark, despite their growing proximity. "There are Pokémon on it!"

Sure enough, it was hard to miss the huge Aggron stomping on the Rock. He couldn't see any others, but that sure was at least one Pokémon on the Rock. Not that that was a good reason to leap out of a helicopter onto it.

"That doesn't explain why you need to be on it," Misty said.

"There aren't enough Flying Pokémon among us for us to just fly around it, plus it's going really fast," Ash said. "It just makes sense to go right on the Rock where we don't have to worry about following it or keeping up."

In a way, that did make sense to the logical side of Clemont's brain. However, the other part of his brain, equally logical, screamed at him that the danger this presented outweighed everything else.

"How about I put it this way," Ash said as he put a hand on the door's handle. "Everyone grab tight, because we're close enough now and I'm going. Right, Pikachu?"

"Pika," Pikachu agreed firmly. Well, at least someone was always on Ash's side.

"There's no need to be crazy," Misty protested. "You don't even have a plan!"

"I'll think of one. Here, get in here for safety, Pikachu," Ash said, presenting his bag. "Just for the jump."

Pikachu went in without hesitation and Ash strapped the bag back to his shoulder.

Misty wasn't done yet. "Ash, five minutes more to think this through won't make a—"

"What if it does, Misty?" Ash asked, not angry, but short. "What if five minutes makes all the difference? And I know I'll be able to think of a plan better from down there than up here. So we're going."

"I wanna go too!" Bonnie exclaimed, popping off of Clemont's lap.

"Oh no, you're not," Clemont said, grabbing around her waist harshly and pulling her back down.

"Big brother…" Bonnie pouted.

"That's good, James!" Ash shouted. Now when you looked out the helicopter window, all you could see was the Giant Rock. Its bright veins and dark, craggy surface. Its vines swung at anything that was perceived as a threat. The helicopter was keeping perfect pace with it, so there was just one rectangle Clemont could study. And even that little, limited box of the Giant Rock was intimidating enough to dry his throat.

Then, without a second warning, Ash whipped open the door, sending a dusty windstorm into the helicopter. Clemont didn't want to let go of Bonnie even with one arm, so he pressed his face into the top of her head to keep his glasses from being torn off by the crosswinds. He couldn't see when Ash jumped, but he knew when it was, because Misty's shout of his name was piercing, even over the wind.

Clemont glanced up over his glasses and saw, even through his blurred vision, that Ash was gone. He saw Misty getting up as well, saying something he couldn't hear over the wind. Then, instead of closing the door like he'd assumed she would do, she stood in the doorway for a moment and then she too disappeared.

"Damn it," Alain said, just barely loud enough to carry over the wind and the rotating blades of the helicopter. Then he followed the rest up and out. Then it was just Clemont, Bonnie, and Jessie in the back of the helicopter.

" _Clemont_ ," Bonnie whined. "I want to help. And so does Squishy."

Squishy nodded its bulbous head in agreement. Clemont wasn't quite sure what kind of authority he had to go against a Legendary Pokémon, but he still shook his head.

"I'm sorry, Bonnie," Clemont said, not letting up his grip for a second, even though there was suddenly a plethora of open seats in the helicopter and she no longer needed to be on his lap. "It's not safe."

"Nothing we've done is safe!" Bonnie shouted. "Nothing in the whole world is safe right now, so don't you want to try and make it safe again?"

Another logical argument that hurt his brain. This wouldn't even be the most dangerous thing either of them had done that day. Not even the biggest jump, when he thought about it. And while jumping off of Prism Tower had been his choice, he'd forced Bonnie into it. He'd forced her to do that dangerous thing at the risk of her life without even knowing. Because he hadn't thought of all the possibilities before self-destructing the damn building.

If he tried to look at all possible angles of this, the answer was pretty clear. Either they all managed to stop the Giant Rock and the world was saved, or they didn't, and no matter where Clemont and Bonnie would be standing, they'd die, probably immediately. And, well, if the odds were even slightly more in favor of the former by their jumping into the action—which it probably would be if Squishy would be involved—then it was obvious. A surprisingly easy choice.

And at least this time, instead of Bonnie being alone, he would be holding her hand.

He didn't say anything, but he took his arms off her middle and grabbed one of her hands. She looked up at him with shining eyes as if to say, "Really?"

Clemont nodded and helped her up. "Let's jump."

* * *

"What in the world?"

Diantha asked the question, tearing her gaze away from the Giant Rock to look up at the sky.

Serena hadn't heard it, but as she followed Diantha's sightline, she saw a helicopter hovering above them. And then getting dangerously close.

"Metagross, bank right!" Steven shouted as Metagross began to steer away from the Giant Rock. Which, it appeared, was where that helicopter was headed. Professor Sycamore had already gone that way, safely out of the way of both the helicopter and Metagross.

Serena felt a simultaneous flutter and clenching of her heart. She hoped beyond hope that these were people here to help. But she realized there was probably an equal chance that whoever was in that helicopter was going to send more obstacles their way.

"Oh my goodness!"

That one was Mairin, whose eyes were just past the helicopter, back on the Giant Rock. Someone, a person, not a Pokémon, had leapt from the helicopter and stumbled onto the Giant Rock. And Serena was the only one to recognize him.

"That's Ash!" she gasped.

"Ash Ketchum?" Diantha asked, leaning only the inch or two she could wager forward, as if that would help her see better. "Are you certain?"

"Yes," Serena said firmly. There were four people in the world she knew without a doubt she'd be able to recognize from any distance under any circumstances: her mother, Clemont, Bonnie, and Ash.

A few more shapes bounded out of the helicopter, shortly after Ash. The first she didn't recognize, then the second she could guess was Alain, based on the flash of blue around his neck. Then came Clemont and Bonnie together.

Then, mercifully, the helicopter began to move away. The thrumming of the blades felt like they were sending shockwaves through Serena's body, like a particularly loud and nearby drumbeat. And then Steven's Metagross could inch back toward the Giant Rock.

"I think they've got the right idea," Steven said suddenly.

"You're kidding, Steven," Diantha replied dryly.

"I am not. We're going to have to get in there and battle this thing like it's our battlefield," Steven declared. "Our whole environment. Then we can take it all in and maybe then we'll know more about what we're dealing with. All this distance stuff and letting our Pokémon do the dirty work alone…Nuh-uh, I don't want to do that."

In any other circumstance—though Serena wasn't quite sure what other collection of events could lead them to a situation anything like this—Serena would have agreed with Diantha. It wasn't even an idea worth entertaining.

But Ash was doing it. And, sure, if she knew Ash, she knew that he probably hadn't thought it through the whole way. A little part of her believed in him enough to imagine that maybe he'd figured out how to destroy the Rock and was running headlong to do just that. But, in reality, she anticipated that he was probably just running headlong. Into danger. Like always.

And also, like always, she didn't want to leave him to do it without her.

"Let's go, Steven," she said, suddenly emboldened. "I wanna help too."

* * *

"You joining them, Xerosic?" James asked his unofficial copilot after Jessie had closed the helicopter door. Regardless of Xerosic's answer, James was already drawing the helicopter away from the Giant Rock, out of reach of any of those Arbok-like vines.

Xerosic shook his head. "No. I don't think the physical takedown of a Mega-Evolution-energized, semi-autonomous boulder is the job for someone with my figure."

"Well, care to do an interview?"

Now that Jessie and Meowth had space again to start futzing around with their equipment, she had the still camera down and the video camera back up, being behind it instead of in front of it for the first time that day since they'd shot Serena's speech. She abruptly pointed it at Xerosic and began trying to focus. It was much harder to do at night than during the day. Xerosic looked dark and fuzzy and then his face lost any shape at all. Jessie looked away from the frame and at Xerosic, who had thrown his hand in front of his face.

"What, camera shy?" Jessie asked.

"No," Xerosic grunted. "I'm just not particularly sure I want my face being broadcast to the world today."

"Relax," Meowth said as he began fiddling with the boom mic. It had gotten dust all in it and he was trying to blow some of it out. It would certainly be garbage after tonight. "Da camera isn't even on."

"C'mon, you could give us a great exclusive," she encouraged, bringing the camera back up again.

"I said _no_."

"It doesn't have to be anything genius," Jessie coached. "Just whatever it is you said to the twerps. Tell the world what you know."

"Sounds like a surefire way to fuck up my life more than it already is," Xerosic said dryly. "I think I'll pass."

"Wait," Jessie said, dropping the camera once more. "Criminal to criminal—are you going to run after this?"

"Assuming there _is_ an after this," Xerosic said.

"Do you think there will be?" James asked, a tremor of fear in his voice. Sure, the three of them had dealt with their fear incredibly well that day, but in the relative safety of the helicopter, it was easy for James' scaredy-cat tendencies to come out.

Xerosic shrugged. "This plan was supposed to be foolproof. You have no idea the power of this Rock. Look at it. It's as tall as a building and as fast as a car. But, then again, I've been watching these kids for months. And they do have a knack for overcoming unbeatable odds."

"We've known the twerps longer than that and have seen them do this a hundred times," James agreed. "I think their odds might be better than you realize."

"James," Jessie cut in. "You're letting him distract you. Xerosic, are you trying to run from the law after this?"

"Of course I am," Xerosic bit out. "If I didn't care about my life, I might have just gone Lysandre's route and let this whole thing play out according to plan. I'm loath to take part in saving the day and then rot in prison for the rest of my life."

Jessie recoiled. "That's kind of a crazy way of looking at it."

"Yes, well, I suppose I'm kind of crazy."

Jessie wasn't particularly inclined to argue with that. Maybe the man had managed a helpful crisis of conscience, but he was one of the arbiters of this plan. That placed him solidly as at least the deputy mayor of Crazy Town.

"And I wouldn't try to stop me if I were you," he said, his voice suddenly low and threatening. "I may not look like much, but my Pokémon are incredibly strong."

Team Rocket had been threatened many times over the years. And, shockingly, they didn't often back down. They ran headfirst into losing matches time after time and had the scars to show it. They didn't often have much to lose, as it was. They were fearful enough that sometimes they could be shaken down to some degree, but, well, they'd had the job this long, hadn't they? A threat like that was always going to sound stale to Jessie's ears. But it was beside the point.

"We don't know each other very well," she started. "But we've been in the thieving, cheating, lying, illegal game of criminality for years. How many, James?"

"Ten at least," he estimated.

"A decade," Jessie restated. "We've seen what lies behind those prison bars, we've been carted away in cop cars, and we've run from the cops as well. I know we're doing something honest right now, but we're only even in Kalos because we're trying to steal that twerp's Pikachu."

Xerosic's eyes narrowed. "You traveled to a region just for a Pikachu?"

Following the twerp and Pikachu had been their lives for so long that Jessie forgot how silly it sounded when you said it aloud. And compared to a mission to hijack Zygarde and use it to hit reset on the world…it did make it sound a little like small potatoes.

"Yeah, we did," Jessie snapped back, her voice always getting uncontrollably defensive when someone questioned her like that. "My point is that I don't have any plans of turning you in. James? Meowth?"

"I won't if she won't," James said.

"Me neitha," Meowth agreed.

"Okay," Jessie said, sitting back. "So we're agreed. We'll harbor this fugitive so long as he keeps on the good side as long as we do. Now."

Jessie handed the camera back to Meowth and took the boom from him.

"Xerosic, you're going to make yourself useful and hold onto this so the world can hear my lovely if slightly tired voice and, Meowth, shoot the Giant Rock and pan to me so that I can inform the world about our anonymous source."

Xerosic nodded. "Thank you."

"Well, it won't get us quite the same reaction from our fans as would a non-anonymous source. But I'm pretty sure we're all people are watching right now anyway, so we might as well get this show on the road. Meowth, go."

"Five, four, tree…" he counted off the last two numbers on his fingers and then pointed dramatically at Jessie, who smiled and took a deep breath.

"Welcome back to our live broadcast…"

* * *

It was a hard landing when Ash's feet hit the Giant Rock. It wasn't like any old leap he'd taken; the footing on the Giant Rock was uneven. It was craggy and hard—he could feel some pointy bits embedding themselves in the soles of his worn sneakers.

Fortunately, that was the worst of it. Ash had taken many large falls over the years, some planned and some not so planned, so this was at least better than all the accidental times. For one, he had managed to land on his feet. The first thing he did was take Pikachu back out of his bag and place him on the ground instead of his shoulder. They'd be needing to dive right into the action, after all.

"You okay, buddy?" he asked.

Pikachu looked determinedly back at him. "Pi kachu," he responded firmly.

"Good. Glad to hear it, buddy."

Ash quickly noticed that, like things had been in Lumiose a couple hours ago—or had it even been that long? He had no idea. Back before the tower had fallen, in any case—vines were creeping all over the Rock and slashing about in the air. In fact, it seemed that what was propelling the Rock forward were a million vines moving like legs underneath it. It made the rock rumble and hard to balance on. But Ash just bent his knees and began his descent.

Then he heard a thump behind him. He whipped back around and saw Misty had just landed, a little less steadily than he had. She'd fallen on her hands a little and hissed as she pushed herself upright. Ash rushed over to her and took her hand in his to see if it was okay. A few little pebbles had pressed into her skin, but as she brushed them off, no blood was left in their wake.

Ash grinned down at her. "Not so crazy after all, am I?"

"Oh, you're crazy," Misty said confidently. "But that's never stopped me from following you in your harebrained schemes before, has it?"

Ash chuckled. "No, I guess not."

Alain came tumbling through the air next, landing better than either of them had, but altogether way too close to where they were standing. Misty yelped and jumped away, dragging Ash with her.

"You shouldn't be standing here, let's move up," Alain chastised as soon as he'd straightened, ushering the other two further up the rock.

"We didn't know you were joining us," Ash said, a grin still fully placed on his face.

"Yeah, well, you're right. If our lives are already on the line, this is probably the best way to go about it."

They'd just managed to move sufficiently enough away when Clemont and Bonnie both came flying towards them. Clemont fell forward onto his knees and Bonnie, unfazed, helped him up.

"Oof, I didn't like that at all," Clemont said, righting his glasses on his face.

"I kinda thought it was fun," Bonnie said breathlessly.

Just then, a thick vine came from deeper in the rock and came hurtling toward the group. "Look out!" Alain shouted.

Pikachu reacted the quickest, managing to jump into the air and slice the vine in two with an Iron Tail Attack. The group leapt apart as the severed vine fell heavily to the ground between them.

"Thanks, Pikachu," Ash said. "Okay, we need to keep an eye out. But we need to figure out how to fight this rock. We need to let our Pokémon out and try all kinds of different moves at different targets and see if anything slows it down. But, at the very least, we just keep on attacking. No stopping until it's over, right, gang?"

It was only half a plan. At best. But it was no better and, in fact, probably identical to the plan any of the rest of them would have come up with. And they were all set and ready to do it when they heard a girl scream as yet another person fell onto the Rock.

"Serena!" Ash and Bonnie shouted.

Serena hadn't had as far to fall, since Metagross was able to get much closer to the Giant Rock than the helicopter had. So as she stumbled down, she kept up her momentum, and ran to join the rest of the group.

"Ash!" she shouted, running straight to him, giving him a big hug. "Oh, I'm so happy you're okay! All of you!"

Ash was taken aback for a moment, his arms frozen at his side instead of wrapping around Serena like what should have been natural. Seeing his near catatonic state, Clemont stepped in and said, "It's a relief to see that you're okay too, Serena. Right, Ash?"

Hearing Clemont say his name broke Ash out of whatever state he'd been in and he hugged Serena back, giving one good squeeze before pulling back. "What he said," Ash agreed, a genuine smile coming to his face when he looked at Serena's face and saw her in one piece.

"Serena!" Bonnie cried again, reaching her hands up towards the older girl. Serena happily obliged.

"Of course, Bonnie," Serena said, bending over for a proper hug with the younger girl. "I'm sure you've done very well today."

"She has," Clemont said.

By that point, Steven, Diantha, Mairin, and Professor Sycamore had all landed on the Rock, Metagross and Garchomp having been returned for a good rest.

"Alain!" Mairin wailed, running to him with her arms outspread.

In a showing of emotion Ash had never seen from Alain, he shouted her name too and ran, meeting her halfway. The two embraced in a hug that looked almost painful, their bodies smashing into each other, his face buried in her hair and hers in his chest. There was murmuring between the two of them that Ash couldn't make out over the ambient noise of the Giant Rock moving and the vines smashing about within it.

Steven, Diantha, and the Professor carefully maneuvered around the embracing duo to join the larger group. Diantha began speaking. "On the one hand, I'm extremely grateful to see all you kids are okay. But on the other, I'm wondering what the heck you all are doing here. You should have found shelter a long time ago."

Ash shook his head. "Not going to happen, Diantha," he said firmly, both Serena and Clemont looking taken aback at the tone he chose to use towards the Champion. "We're in this now and we're in it to the end."

Diantha looked vaguely amused but, mostly, it occurred to Ash, she just looked really, really tired. He wondered if he looked like that too. "Then I suppose it would just be a waste of time and energy to try and talk you out of it."

"Or not to utilize you," Sycamore added.

Ash grinned. "You got that right. Oh, and," he gestured to Misty, "everyone, this is my friend Misty from Kanto. See, we have people from all over the world on our side!"

Diantha nodded. "Nice to meet you, Misty."

"You too, Madam Champion."

As Ash looked around, taking in the strange group of people he knew, he noticed Serena and Misty staring at each other. He cocked his head at them and when they noticed, they both looked at him wide-eyed, like they'd been caught doing something strange. He disregarded it.

"Bonnie, I see you have Squishy by your side again," Professor Sycamore said, gesturing to Squishy, who was poking its head out of Bonnie's bag. "How did you manage that?"

Bonnie grinned, seemingly pleased by the attention. "I just had to let it know that I loved it! And it could hear that over being controlled by the Mega-Evolution ray!"

"Mega-Evolution ray…" Professor Sycamore muttered.

His thoughts were interrupted by another vine swinging their way, this one slashing sideways, attempting to decapitate them all. This time, Pancham came out of nowhere and jumped, punching the vine up and out of their way. The vine recoiled, though, coming back around for another swipe, but Pikachu used another Iron Tail and that vine went the way of the first one.

"Might I suggest we get a move on?" Misty asked, a hand already on a PokéBall. She tossed it up to accentuate her point, and released her Starmie, the same one she'd left back at the Gym before the Indigo League. It began flying through the air, cutting through all the vines that were getting too close.

"Yeah, we need to find Chespie!" Mairin exclaimed, finally joining the conversation. She and Alain had already pulled apart, but still lingered behind the rest of the group.

Alain's attention was still entirely on Mairin. "So Xerosic was right. The Giant Rock absorbed Chespie before it transformed, right?"

Mairin sniffled, seemingly fighting off tears as she said, "That's right. It's trapped in here somewhere!"

"Okay, new plan," Ash stated, although even he knew that they'd had very little in the way of a plan before. "Job one, find and rescue Chespie. Job two, destroy the Rock."

Perhaps he was simplifying things, making them sound easier than they would be. But in Ash's mind, it was that easy. Even if the job wasn't easy to accomplish, it was easy to imagine. Easy to understand. So they just had to get to the doing, and it would be done.

"Hold on a minute, Ash," Diantha said. "Look, I understand the importance of finding Chespie, I do. But the whole world is at risk if we don't stop the Giant Rock. I can't in good conscience put off destroying the Rock for the sake of one life, even if it's one of our own."

Mairin let out a little whimper, seeming to do everything in her power not to begin crying. Ash, on the other hand, suddenly felt a flash of anger. How dare she say that Chespie wasn't important? _Any_ life was important and worth saving and Ash wouldn't compromise that belief for anything.

"Diantha, let me explain," Clemont cut in. "Xerosic of Team Flare told us back in Lumiose that after Chespie's accident, its body contained a lot of Mega-Evolution energy. The Giant Rock is made of Primal energy. When combined with the Rock, Chespie's excess Mega-Evolution energy activated the rock, almost. Woke it up, if you will. So, in theory, if we can free Chespie, it might just stop the Giant Rock."

Diantha considered that for a moment. But only a moment. Then she said, "That is a different situation altogether, then. Let's look for Chespie. Mairin, do you have any idea where Chespie might be?"

Mairin looked to Steven, who folded his arms. "Well, it went into the middle of the Rock," he said. "But that was before it transformed. So our best bet will be trying to find a way to sense it."

"That sounds like a job for Gardevoir!" Diantha said, bringing out her star Pokémon's 'Ball. "Gardevoir, look for Chespie within the Rock!"

Gardevoir closed her eyes for a moment, her body glowing faintly as she used her psychic abilities on the Rock. It wasn't long before her eyes flashed open and she pointed towards the heart of the Rock.

"It's past the large pink crystal in the chest if you're looking at it from the front," Diantha said.

"How do you know?" Serena asked.

"Gardevoir and I have a strong psychic connection," Diantha explained. "She can send images to me, and I could see Chespie trapped in the middle of that crystal."

"Okay, so that's where we're going to go!" Ash shouted. "Let's go!"

With a flourish, Ash tossed Greninja's PokéBall into the air, pleased to get to Battle with his friend again that day, this time of their own volition. Despite Misty's and Starmie's best efforts, the vines were getting worse, as though they had grown more aware of where the group had congregated. Right away, Greninja used Slash on a wayward vine and sent it falling to the ground. And then they ran.

* * *

Meyer didn't know how, but Zygarde was gaining on the Giant Rock. Zygarde was only as tall as a Furfrou, but it seemed to be handling his weight fine. Dedenne's extra couple kilograms weren't a concern. However, Meyer had to crouch over and keep his legs tucked into the Pokémon's flank to have any kind of a center of gravity, not to mention saving his pants from getting scraped off on the ground. And keeping Dedenne from flying off his lap.

It was a rocky ride, no doubt. But he could increasingly see the dust of the Giant Rock in the distance. Somehow, after everything, he was still wearing his Blaziken Mask cape. It was tattered in places, and much filthier than it had been when he'd put it on earlier that day, but the bits by his shoulder were still okay, if rather damp from the sweat dripping down his neck. Not caring about that, he wrapped one arm more firmly around Zygarde's thin neck, making sure that scarf-like thing it bore was wrapped around, not whipping either of them in the face, and he used his spare hand to bring the cape up to his nose and mouth. The dust would be getting dense soon, and he didn't want to breathe it in. He would have to hope his body would do a good enough job shielding Dedenne.

He couldn't hear much, save for the whistling of the wind in his ears, but Meyer swore he could hear a faint, rhythmic beating coming from somewhere. He looked around before looking up, and saw a helicopter flying overhead in the same direction Zygarde was taking him. It was outpacing them, but it reminded Meyer how fast they must have been going. Maybe 60, 70 kilometers per hour? Somehow, that speed felt far faster on this canine running over the rugged landscape than in his truck.

As the helicopter flew further away, Meyer could think of little more than the pain sprouting in his hunched body. His back was curled in a way that made his lumbar feel crunched and it was sparking pain up and down his spine. Then there was his concussion. He'd managed to forget about it there for a bit, but the pounding of Zygarde's feet on the ground restarted a rhythmic pulsing in his cranium. He wondered if he looked at a book right now if he'd be able to read it.

They were entering the Giant Rock's wake and, suddenly, Meyer had to close his eyes. They had already been streaming tears from the wind and the cold evening air that hit Kalos after the sun went down, but the dust was already too much. If he opened his eyes, he knew he wouldn't be able to see and, frankly, he didn't know how Zygarde was doing it. He hadn't gotten a good look at the Pokémon's eyes in this forme, but they had been peculiar, right? Truthfully, he had no idea how this Pokémon's eyes worked, but Meyer had no trouble closing his eyes and putting his faith in the Pokémon.

Then, before long, their trajectory changed. Meyer suddenly had to drop his cape and put his other arm back around Zygarde's neck and hold on for dear life as the Pokémon suddenly went vertical. He could feel Dedenne fall against his stomach and use its tiny claws to cling to his shirt. As the cape fell away, Meyer found that he could breathe again. The dust had mostly dissipated. Enough that he felt comfortable opening his eyes, at least. And when he did, he saw that they were ascending the Giant Rock.

Suddenly, Meyer saw a thick vine swinging their way, just like back at Lumiose City. Reflexively, he yelled, "Watch out!" and Zygarde dodged gracefully.

Whatever was happening on this Rock was very similar to what had happened when Zygarde had taken over Lumiose. But Meyer was certain that this Zygarde wasn't controlling the vines this time. So he could only hope that Squishy had nothing to do with it, and it was instead something new altogether. That thought was both frightening and reassuring.

"Woah," Meyer groaned when Zygarde abruptly stopped. His weight was thrown forward and he and Dedenne almost toppled off the Pokémon and onto the mess of rock and vines below him. He all but rolled off of Zygarde's back and landed on the ground unsteadily. He had to push up from his hands and knees to standing. When he looked down, he couldn't help but say, "Woah," again.

Zygarde had taken them high up on the Rock. Down below, he could see a mountain of moving rock sitting upon a mess of vines moving like Ariados legs. But somewhere up ahead, he could see a battle raging. There were flames being thrown, flashes of electricity, and vines being taken out left and right. He had no idea who they might be, but he knew they were on the same side. He pointed down at them.

"Zygarde," he said. "If you'll join me, that's where I'm going."

And so he went.

* * *

After Ash took off, the rest of the group wasn't far behind. Misty and Starmie were hot on Ash's heels, as were Diantha and Gardevoir. Steven had returned his Aggron, since the large Iron Armor Pokémon wasn't nimble to keep up with running on the unstable rock and constantly moving vines. In exchange, he released a Beldum who floated in the air beside his head. Serena continued with Pancham and Professor Sycamore brought Garchomp back out. Clemont released his Luxray as he grasped Bonnie's hand, intent on leading her, but Bonnie ended up darting out in front while Clemont staggered behind her.

That left only Alain and Mairin. Alain fingered Charizard's PokéBall, but ended up keeping it in his pocket. The group had a lot of Pokémon out right now, and perhaps it would be better to let his rest some more after his long Battle with Ash. Especially Charizard. If need be, he'd bring out Weavile, whose speed would certainly be an asset. He raised his eyebrows at Mairin and said, "Aren't you coming to save Chespie?"

"Yes, of course!" Mairin replied immediately. "I just…I want to be helpful too. I…here."

Fingers trembling, Mairin reached for a PokéBall, something Alain hadn't seen her do in nearly a year. Before she could think about it too hard, she released Bébé, her face resolute. Alain was shocked.

"Release your Charizard," she said with a boldness he wasn't used to hearing from her anymore.

"Really?" Alain asked. "Why?"

"You'll see."

Alain didn't hesitate—the rest of the group was already leaving them in the dust—and released his Charizard."

"Bébé, use Wish."

Alain only needed the most cursory look at his Charizard to see exactly what condition it was in. It was exhausted, as evidenced by the way it held its wings close to its chest, the way it held its head low, like its head was somehow too heavy for its proportionally thick neck. Its scales were filthy from flying through the dust in Lumiose after the tower fell, the areas around its nose and eyes particularly dirty. He'd never seen his Charizard in such a haggard state, even after his many rounds of intense—perhaps even too much so—training over the past year. He was ashamed.

But not for long. After a few seconds, a sparkle came over Charizard's body, and Alain could see its condition change before his eyes. Charizard's expression suddenly became more alert, its posture straighter. It snorted a little, smoke and the tiniest flame forming effortlessly out its nostrils. There was still a thin layer of dirt from top to bottom on it, but Charizard's strength was back. Its health was restored.

"Mairin…" Alain said in wonder.

Mairin put a hand on Alain's shoulder. "I would do anything for you, Alain. And anything for Chespie. Let's catch up to the rest of the group, now. I want to be able to help them too."

Alain smiled a little, possibly his first real smile all day, including those brief moments of happiness after he'd won the tournament, before the vines had torn through the stadium. "You will." He took her hand. "Let's go."

They had to sprint to find the tail end of the group, much less catch up with them, but fortunately they hadn't fallen too far behind. It was hard traversing the uneven ground safely. At this point, no one's number one priority was safety, but the danger that something even as trivial as a twisted ankle would cause was not worth the risk. The humans all had to keep their eyes to the ground just to stay upright.

As Alain and Mairin grew closer, they could hear sounds of everyone shouting out commands to their Pokémon to take on the vines that were, at this point, swinging wildly. Alain watched as Serena had a vine wrapped around her and Misty's Starmie cut through it, dropping the girl back to the ground.

"Alain!" Ash called out in relief when they finally caught up, Alain's Charizard flying in front of Ash to Wing Attack a vine that had gotten too close. "I thought we might have lost you!"

"No, just strategizing," Alain shouted back.

"Glad to hear i—woah!"

Ash's last word turned into a shout as he got scooped up by a vine and raveled in, a few twists wrapping up most of his body. At the same time, Professor Sycamore's Garchomp was grabbed, as well as Clemont and Bonnie by one vine. Alain reached for Weavile's PokéBall, immediately thinking that perhaps his previous thought that they had enough Pokémon was too conservative. Then he heard a rabid shout from up above.

" _Not my kids_!"

Alain watched as a man leaped down from above them in tandem with a Blaziken, who sliced through the vine that had captured Clemont and Bonnie with a burst of fire summoned from its palm. The vine loosened around them and Clemont and Bonnie began to fall. The man and Blaziken rushed to them, each catching one in the air. Alain was confused for just a moment before Bonnie's eyes widened and she shrieked, " _Dad_!"

"Kids!" the man shouted as he squeezed Bonnie and Clemont, who Blaziken had helped to the ground. "Kids, I can't believe you're alive."

"Of course we are, dad!" Bonnie exclaimed. "Where's Dedenne?"

For a moment, Alain almost felt jealous of Bonnie. For the seven-year-old, it was a given that they had lived. That they _would_ live. That was an incredible gift and he knew he would have to think that way too if he wanted to get through this. For Mairin. For Chespie.

The man was hugging the two so close Alain had to wonder if he was cracking their backs. If they could breathe. But they looked equally happy to see him, hugging their dad as closely as their reaches would allow. When they pulled apart, the man pointed behind him and, sure enough, Dedenne was scampering towards them, and leapt into Bonnie's arms.

In the meantime, Greninja leapt into the air and sliced Ash's vine into ribbons, the boy falling to the ground amongst its mangled remains. Garchomp was trying to cut through its vine with the knife-like fins on its arms, but it was held tightly enough that it couldn't get much of a swing.

"Garchomp, Mega-Evolve!" Professor Sycamore shouted, raising his Key Stone into the air.

Garchomp wasn't a Pokémon that changed massively in size when it Mega-Evolved. So the vine didn't seem to squeeze it much more, but it suddenly had much weightier fins that, instead of being shaped like large chef's knives, were now more like scythes. Only a couple more swings from those new weapons were needed to cut it free, and the now many more vines looking to take the place of their fallen comrade.

The vines around Garchomp were suddenly going crazy and it had to turn in all directions, swiping with both arms relentlessly to get them to calm down again, but, once more, everyone was free.

"Let's keep going!" Ash shouted, Pikachu and Greninja covering him as he paved the path forward.

Alain charged forward at those words. If no one else, he _had_ to be there when they found Chespie. And Mairin, of course. Really, so long as Chespie got saved, it shouldn't much matter who was doing the saving. But if he didn't make it there for some reason, he wouldn't forgive himself. And there was already so much about this that he wasn't forgiving himself for. So he needed this one.

"Mairin!" Alain called behind him, pausing for just a moment to make sure that she was following him.

"I'm coming, Alain!"

He reached out his hand to grasp hers and, together, they ran towards Chespie.

* * *

Even with the strangely but generously gifted goggles, Malva was struggling to see anything after stepping outside the lab. It turned out that dust, plus orange goggles, plus nighttime, plus less-than-stellar vision anyway led to a combined fate where you could barely see what was in front of you, much less where you might be going.

It was hopeless. Malva had stopped running as soon as she'd made it to the bottom of the steps. She didn't know if she was to go right or left down South Boulevard or if she should head straight down Vernal Avenue. She was stuck.

She thought about calling on Pyroar again, but was loath to do so. The poor Pokémon had battled so much today and had already experienced some of the probably cancerous dust floating through the air. The most she would be able to offer was her sense of smell, but with the air being as thick with pollutants as it was right now, she wasn't sure how much help that would be. Malva was just about to make a split-second decision when someone behind her called, "Wait!"

Malva turned around, though the view behind her wasn't much different from the view in front of her. Nothing but gray. But, by now, she recognized the voice of the female grunt.

"What?" Malva called back, unable to keep the irritation out of her muffled voice.

The girl shouted, "Use my Golbat!"

Malva heard the familiar sound of a PokéBall bursting open and even saw the flash of light reflecting off of all the dust particles. Then the strange spitting cry of a Golbat came and she could hear its flapping wings right above her.

Malva never had been a girl to shoo away opportunity when it came to her. In fact, she'd always snatched it whenever she could, even when it wasn't hers for the taking. So, in this instance, she needn't be told twice.

"Golbat, use Supersonic! There are two girls out here and I need to find them!"

It took a few moments. Malva imagined that it must be harder than usual to be reading whatever it was Golbat saw when they used Supersonic, given all the debris on the streets, all the vines grown all over everything, distorting familiar, blocky city shapes. Plus, Malva wasn't expecting great things out of the probably under-leveled Golbat of a _grunt_. But it was certainly more than any of her Pokémon had to offer.

Then Golbat made a hissing noise, its wings flapping harder, and Malva knew it had found something. She didn't get her hopes up that it had found Aliana and Bryony, but at least she had direction. Even if it was wrong, she just had to have direction right now.

"Lead the way," Malva directed. "I'll follow as best I can."

It was like she was fumbling blind. She could see just enough in front of her so as not to trip, most of the time, but the going was slow. She only had the sound of Golbat's wings to go off of in terms of direction. She could tell they were headed straight, down Vernal instead of South Boulevard. But even if she'd had the familiarity with the city of a native Lumiosite, traversing the street wouldn't have been easy. There was almost nowhere that the stone road was even anymore, and she had to climb over vines and fallen bits from buildings. Golbat was flying, so it didn't understand where in the road might be easiest for a human to navigate, and Malva didn't have the vision to figure it out. So she stumbled through, only finding solace in the fact that there was no way Aliana and Bryony were doing any better. Even if the girls weren't still recovering from the last of their paralysis, Malva knew none of their Pokémon would be able to help. Druddigon, Liepard, and Bisharp had no particular sensory skills. So hopefully Malva would find them before they got to wherever they were going.

It wasn't looking good, though. Well, to be fair, it wasn't looking _like_ much of anything. But it wasn't _feeling_ good. Even with her shirt over her nose and mouth, her lungs were burning. And this wasn't any cheap-ass shirt, either. She'd worn this shirt on air for the Lumiose Conference—this shirt was worth thousands of PokéDollars. It had a nice, thick fabric that showed off her body almost as well as shapewear would. It was tough to breathe through and feel like she was getting any oxygen at all, but it seemed the little she was getting was still rife with contaminants.

After what felt like hours of this, though in reality it must have been no more than fifteen minutes, Golbat began squawking wildly. At first, Malva wasn't quite sure what the sound was. After all, for having such large mouths, Golbat seemed incapable of creating much sound audible to humans. Perhaps it was because they lacked a throat. Really, Malva didn't know. For an Elite, she should probably have a better idea of Pokémon anatomy, but she didn't. She was just there to battle.

Golbat got down close enough to her that Malva could feel the mad flapping of its wings, and she knew it was trying to communicate something in particular. And, since they were on a singular mission, there was only one thing for it to be.

Unless it was warning her about some danger. But at this point, she was already in the thick of it, so she couldn't give a flying fuck.

"Are they here?" she whispered so quietly she could barely hear it. But she knew it would carry easily to Golbat.

Golbat gave one more furious hiss but then flew ahead and hissed some more before returning to her.

"Further up ahead?" she asked, her volume increasing a decibel.

Golbat went right in front of her and tilted its body—head? Its body and head were pretty interchangeable as far as she was concerned—back and forth. She had to assume that was an affirmative gesture.

So the trek continued. For a minute, Golbat tried clearing some of the soot out of her path with its large wings, but that just agitated the flow, causing all of the particles to move more. Since all the air for miles contained this same dust, anything Golbat batted away was just replaced by the same. So, with a cough, Malva thanked Golbat for its help, but begged it to stop.

Malva noticed when they were almost at the end of the street. Near the end of all the long blocks were four-way intersections leading to the various small plazas that were, in Malva's opinion, needlessly created in the center of the city. After all, Centrico Plaza was already there, so weren't other parts of the city more in need of beautification?

Then Malva realized what was happening. These stupid girls were going to Prism Tower. Why, Malva didn't know, but she hoped they had a fucking good reason for bringing her to a building that had exploded only—what? An hour or two earlier?

The ruins coming up to Prism Tower were particularly bad. More buildings seemed to be smashed in, toppled over, and destroyed by vines than around Professor Sycamore's lab. And strange though it was, she had to describe it as ruins. Whenever Malva thought about ruins—which was almost never—she imagined the Solaceon Ruins or the Ruins of Alph. Old-ass ruins. Not the ruins of a metropolis that existed yesterday. That had existed six hours ago. And that now lay in ruin.

A few minutes later, Malva was as close as she would like to be to the pile. That was, the pile of rubble and other hazards that had once been the crown jewel of Kalos. Under her breath, Malva whispered, "Come here, Golbat."

Golbat entered her limited vision and Malva asked, "Are they here?"

Once again, Golbat gave that same spitting sound. But Malva could see the full-body nod too. She couldn't see the girls herself, but if Golbat thought they were close, then she was ready to act. Malva reached for a PokéBall and threw it in the air. As Aliana and Bryony would surely be able to see the light, she saw no need in keeping up any pretense of stealth. So, as her Pokémon came out, she shouted, "Guess what, motherfuckers?"

"Malva?" she heard both girls shout, their voices sounding more stable than earlier. She wondered if they'd been faking the extent of their condition to trick her or if the tail end of their recovery had truly been so well-timed.

In a flash, Malva's Torkoal appeared out in front of her, somewhere she could barely see. Perhaps Torkoal was an unorthodox choice, being slow and not particularly nimble. Nor would most anyone else be in these conditions. But Torkoal was one of the only Pokémon out there who wouldn't be handicapped by all this. Torkoal never opened its eyes. It created such thick plumes of smoke naturally from its body, that its eyes weren't a particularly advantageous trait. So, over time, they grew better and better at collecting information about their surroundings through their wide feet. Well, lookie there; she did know something about Pokémon anatomy after all.

"Stone Edge!" Malva shouted. "Remind these cunts how it feels like to be trapped in stone!"

Malva heard the girls shriek and the sound of stone crashing through the sheets of metal and the like and, hopefully, encasing the two girls, like they'd been at the beginning of this mess. In a spot very similar to this, when the building had been erect instead of leveled.

Malva could hear where the shriek had come from, as well as the noise the rocks had made. She began climbing over the degree in that direction when she felt something almost squishy underneath her boots. Not squishy exactly but, compared to all the solid building materials underfoot, whatever this was had considerably more give. Malva bent down to get a closer look, and was met with the unmistakable sight of fiery orange hair. She gagged immediately before recoiling and heaving her body to the side before throwing up. Her stomach was so empty that it only took a couple heaves for her body to release everything she had managed to down whilst at the lab. She was barely able to turn away from her sick before collapsing onto her forearms.

That was Lysandre's body. His dead body that she'd stepped on. Another wave of nausea rolled over her, but her stomach almost felt too tight to contract again and allow her to vomit. So she breathed, letting it pass.

That was it. If any part of her had thought maybe Lysandre had pulled out one last trick, had concocted one extra backup plan, it vanished. He'd actually let himself fall from the building, and welcomed his body meeting the stone ground below. Even at her close, less dust-obstructed vantage, she couldn't see much of him. Rubble from the building's collapse had fallen on top of him, and for that, Malva was grateful. She didn't want to see various bits of him twisted the wrong way or crushed in. Already she'd seen far too much.

Torkoal had walked over to her by then and groaned a small cry, its face by hers. She could feel the heat from its nostrils. Malva lifted herself up and then put her hands on Torkoal's back, pushing herself back up to standing. Torkoal's back was incredibly hot, and she would never touch it normally. But in that moment, Malva thought perhaps she could have touched the lava from a volcano and not felt it.

She stumbled over to where the girls were, the sound of Golbat's beating wings still leading the way. With significantly more growl in her voice, Malva asked, "So. What was your big plan?"

As she asked, she could see something glowing in Aliana's arms. At least, she thought it was Aliana; it was significantly harder to tell when both girls were covered more in gray than their signature colors. Lord knew their identifying lipstick had worn off ages ago.

"What's that?" Malva asked dryly, pointing at the glowing thing.

Both girls were silent, as though they had agreed not to tell via some weird quadruplet telepathy.

"Fine, don't tell me," Malva said, and she knew it really sounded like she didn't care. And while deep down, she knew that she did—she did want the world to survive past tonight, after all—all surface parts of her just didn't give a damn. This day had been long. So fucking long. And, with just a bit of twisted empathy, she could understand why someone might want it to be over. "I don't need to know. Just hand the fucker over."

Again, both girls were united in having no reaction. Like if they were mute and still, she would forget she wanted something from them.

Luckily, Malva didn't really _need_ them to hand it over to her. It would have _helped_ , since the fucker was heavy, but she didn't need them to. After all, she did lift.

Malva reached over the stone cage and tried to grab the large glass case. It was like trying to get a grip on an ovular fish tank. There were no sides, no handles for her to get a grip on. And when she was reaching over something the way she was…she really did need a grip. Meanwhile, Aliana was suddenly hugging the item like it was her lifeline.

Panting, Malva pulled back. Okay, maybe she wouldn't be able to lift it without Aliana at least letting go of it. Maybe on a normal day she would have the strength to. But she just didn't have enough strength left today.

Malva glanced back, but only for a second. She didn't actually want to see that sight again. It was a perversion of the human brain that drew the eye to gory sights. That made you want to know about the world's serial killers. Some strange fascination with life and death and the horror of it all. But Malva bet if Aliana and Bryony saw what she'd just seen, their grips would go slack too. There was a sick idea in Malva's brain to pull Lysandre's body out of the rubble and parade it in front of the girls until they realized that their leader was the cowardly fraud that he'd been. But she knew she didn't have the strength for that either.

Malva sighed heavily as she reached for another PokéBall. It always came down to another Pokémon in this world, didn't it? Humans were nothing without them. She didn't even have a real idea. Half an idea, maybe, but she was just going to wing it. She'd had a whole life of half-assing to prepare her for this, after all.

"Chandelure," she called out, her voice dull and scratchy.

The Pokémon appeared in front of her, obviously still tired from its earlier Battle with Lysandre. But she wasn't going to ask a lot of it.

"Use Confuse Ray."

Those familiar baubles of light appeared in front of Chandelure, floating over to the Flare girls.

"Hey, what are you—" Bryony started before the lights reached them. Then she said with a slightly more hesitant voice, "Huh. I didn't like that."

"Yeah, I feel…" Aliana trailed off as she closed her eyes tightly and opened them. "I feel weird."

Malva observed them, rather confused herself. The move had managed some effect, obviously, but this wasn't the same as Malva had seen other times this Attack had been used on humans. Then she looked at the dust around her and could have hit herself.

The Attack was light-based. Visual. Sure, it had a bit of physical essence that impacted the target when it hit, but it was meant to disorient. And it couldn't do that as well, especially for humans, being the exceedingly visual creatures they were, when their vision was so obscured.

She had something else that would work. She thought it would, at least. But it was more fiddly and…well, it required something of her. Something she didn't want to give. But she wanted these girls to lose their minds, and by George they would.

"Chandelure," Malva tried again. "Use Confide."

Malva got right up in the girls' faces. She steeled herself for a second. Ordinarily, one Pokémon would use this move by communicating something to its opponent, kind of like Taunt. By, as far as scientists could tell, confiding a secret. It threw the opponent off. But Chandelure couldn't communicate with these girls. So, with the strength of her Pokémon's Attack, that role fell to Malva.

"Hey, ladies," Malva started, as though she was chatting to some girlfriends. The way she might have talked to these two just yesterday. "I have some things to tell you. First of all, your wise leader's body is right over there, precariously close to a puddle of my vomit. Not that it's precarious because he's going anywhere, since he's been smashed from below and above by this point. Nah, it's my vomit that's precarious. Lots of bile in there, so it'll probably trickle over to him soon enough."

Her words themselves felt like they were soaked with bile. She felt like the evil villain she'd apparently been playing for the last year or so. Saying words that were so atrocious felt good in a way. It was a release.

"Chandelure, keep it up," she said. Suddenly she had more to say. "We used to fuck, you know. I realize now that the secrecy, hell, maybe all of it, was probably to make me feel special. Manipulative bastard probably wanted something to keep me fucking docile since I was the most powerful person on his team. But I always felt bad for you girls. I felt like you four wanted his cock so badly it would break your little hearts to know that I was getting it on the regular. And he was good in the sack too."

Malva could see the girls' expressions dimming. If they were themselves right now, they'd probably be pissed at her for saying what she was saying the way she was saying it. They'd hide their jealousy for sure, but they'd let her know there was no reason to be sharing this. To be so vulgar about it. Now that they suddenly had no words, Malva couldn't help but take advantage.

"But, alas, it seems it meant nothing. To him, at least. But to me? Well, it probably landed me in about the same camp as you girls are in. Hopelessly in love with our boss. Not truly in love, mind you. Probably none of the five of us. But I think it's fair to say we were all captivated by him, right? Lost in him.

"And here's the truth. Maybe not a secret, really, but I think I've already said enough of those for the move to have worked. But this is the truth. He fucked all of us. You two, me, everyone living. Humans, Pokémon, fucking plants. And the truth is that you're going to give me what is in your hands and then you'll be lucky that I don't leave you to die. Because I'm trying really hard to be a better person right now, and I don't think letting you die is a part of that."

Malva looked back and forth between both girls' eyes. They seemed glazed, their jaws slack. Malva straightened up a bit.

"Now what is it that you're trying to do?"

There was no answer from either girl as their brows furrowed. Malva could see the resemblance between the two as their foreheads crinkled in nearly the same way. Identical quadruplets. Fuck.

"I…I don't know," Aliana said, though she was still holding the large capsule. Malva leaned her arms back over the stones.

"Give it to me."

The girl was too confounded to understand instructions. But when Malva grabbed for the large piece of apparently indestructible glass, Aliana loosened her grip, and allowed Malva to take it from her.

It was still really fucking heavy. Malva grunted as she lifted it to the stone and balanced it between two of them. From there, perhaps she could have carefully placed it on the ground or something, but if it had survived a whole building collapsing on it, it could probably handle dropping a few feet to the ground. So she let it slide down and hit the metal debris all around her with a clang.

Malva herself wasn't far behind it. She fell to her knees and then collapsed on top of the capsule. She felt faint. The lack of oxygen, the vomiting, the day—they had all caught up and suddenly she didn't care that she was on top of a pile where bits of a leveled landmark were still burning. She needed a break. Not a long one, since she still had to save the girls, but a short one. Just to get her feet back under her.

With Torkoal and Chandelure idly beside her, Malva whispered one more thing before closing her eyes.

"The real truth is, I think getting through today will be the easy part. Those kids will find a way. The hard part, for you and me, at least, will be tomorrow. I'm not sure I'll be able to get through that."


	11. Rising

Clemont, Bonnie, their dad, and Dedenne separated as the rest of their group started towards Chespie again. "Let's catch up with the others," Clemont said as he watched the group exiting his vision. He already knew that, when it came to speed, he was the weak link. He couldn't really afford to fall behind if he wanted to stay a part of this mission. As he started forward, however, he noticed that his dad and sister weren't quick to follow. "Guys?"

"Clemont," Meyer said, holding his son back. "I just want to let you know how sorry I am that I wasn't by your side. You have no idea the fear I had that either of you were in danger and…I never would have forgiven myself if you had been."

"Well, we were in danger," Clemont answered, a little bluntly. Even as the words came out, he knew that they probably weren't the right ones to say. He could say that he'd been worried too or that there'd been nothing to worry about or that he forgave his dad. But those weren't the things he wanted to say. "We both could have died. We still could."

"I know that, son," Meyer said, his face twisted with grief. Grief for what could have been. Which, for some reason, annoyed Clemont a little bit. "And that's why I'm going to be by your side until this all gets sorted out. You and your sister don't have to fight alone."

"We've never been alone," Clemont retorted. "All year. We've been fine with our friends. We just didn't have you."

Which had been their own _choice_ , Clemont tried to remind himself as the fighting words came out unbidden.

"Clemont, please," Meyer begged. "All I want is your safety."

Clemont sighed. "Me too. I just want Bonnie to be safe. So let's save the world."

Meyer's worried expression stayed stuck on Clemont for a moment longer, but then he relented, shaking his head. "Okay, you're right. Let's go."

But Bonnie, who Clemont really hoped had been too occupied by reuniting with Dedenne to listen, had already returned the Pokémon to her bag and was staring at Zygarde. "Dad?" Bonnie asked.

"Zygarde?" Meyer asked. Zygarde was sitting on the ground, turned away from the three of them and, if Clemont was reading its expression right—which was hard to tell with a Pokémon such as Zygarde—he might think that it seemed almost angry.

"Zygarde?" Bonnie asked. But unlike Meyer, she immediately got close to the Pokémon. She knelt down, even though she didn't really need to in order to be on level with it. She was much farther from eye-level to it on her knees than on her feet. "Don't you want to join us?"

It didn't seem Zygarde could be bothered to move away, though it did turn its head further from Bonnie. Bonnie couldn't be deterred, though. She put a hand gently to its face and encouraged it to meet her gaze. She didn't force its face toward her, and Clemont could tell the softness of her touch. Not every seven-year-old would have that kind of tact.

"It doesn't seem to like people, Bonnie," Meyer said gently.

"Oh, it just doesn't know which people to like yet," Bonnie said. "Like I didn't know if I should like Clemont a few years ago."

"Hey!" Clemont cried, looking wounded.

"Big brothers are tricky business," Bonnie said. "C'mon, Zygarde. I know you've met some bad people, but we just wanna be your friends. And save the world. Those are good things, right?"

Zygarde continued not to respond. Just then, Squishy hopped out of Bonnie's bag and to the ground where it looked up at Zygarde. Clemont had no idea how the two communicated, but they were staring rather intently at each other, so he had to assume that they were saying something.

After a few moments, Zygarde gave a little head roll that almost seemed like the equivalent of an eye-roll for a human. Then, at an agonizingly slow pace, it began to walk in the direction the rest of the group had gone. Squishy rolled its bigger eye and hopped forward, somehow outpacing its larger counterpart.

"Great, let's go!" Bonnie exclaimed, scooping Squishy up and returning to Clemont and Meyer.

Clemont didn't quite know what was said, but it had to be a good sign that Zygarde was moving at least, so he followed Bonnie.

"What do you think they said?" Meyer whispered to Clemont.

Just as Clemont was about to respond that he had no idea, Bonnie replied, "I think Zygarde agreed to wait and see before making a final decision!"

Meyer and Clemont exchanged a glance, eyebrows raised as they shrugged at each other. It was as good a guess as any. But if Clemont had learned anything over these last few months with Bonnie and Squishy, it was that she wasn't often wrong about these things.

* * *

There was a time when pressure hadn't been much of an issue for Mairin. Of course, she'd been a child, so that was probably half of it. But if she was in a tough spot, she liked trying to think of a way to get out of it. And if she failed, it wasn't the end of the world. She'd just try something different next time.

Then, last year, there'd been that time when failure _had_ meant the end of the world. Her first run-in with the Giant Rock back in Hoenn. Then there was Chespie. Then failure didn't mean the end of the world, per se, but it did mean the end of Chespie's life. And despite what Diantha had said earlier, that still felt just as important. She knew it was narrow-minded, and Diantha was right about having to prioritize the world over one Pokémon but…she just couldn't.

Now here was another time when failure meant the actual end of the world. Fact. And Mairin could feel the high levels of anxiety that she'd been treading water in all day rising again. They kept on trying to drown her, but she felt like she had her rhythm again. Chespie was in reach again, and she had some of the strongest Trainers in the world beside her. Steven, Diantha and, of course, Alain. That fact buoyed her a bit.

So, for perhaps the first time today, Mairin was short of breath not from a panic attack, but from all the running and maneuvering. She'd hardly have thought herself to be particularly in shape the year before, but she was incredibly out of shape now. She wanted to keep up with Alain, who was leading the group along with Diantha and Ash, but while the three of them were hurdling their bodies past swinging vines and leaping over uneven rock, she was stumbling along, falling farther and farther behind. Alain kept on looking back for her, but she would wave him on. Just because she was slow didn't mean she wanted him to be slower getting to Chespie.

A vine slammed the ground right next to Mairin's feet and she jumped away, yelping. She lost her balance a little and heard Alain call back for her. She steadied herself by putting one hand to the ground before she totally toppled forward and stood up even-keeled again.

"I'm okay!" she shouted.

Then another vine came and swiped right over top of her head. Mairin yelped again and ducked. Professor Sycamore's Garchomp wasn't so lucky, however. That vine knocked it forward and another one wrapped around its waist. Unlike last time, its arms were stuck by its side and it had no way of getting itself free. It tried in vain to bite at the vine, but this wasn't like a Pokémon using wrap. These vines, Mairin had to assume, didn't have nerves. It had to be destroyed or nothing. You couldn't hurt something like this.

"Greninja!" Ash called, and Greninja made quick work of the vine. One Slash and Garchomp fell to the ground, the vine unraveling around it. Garchomp, however, was slow to get up. Mairin thought of all Garchomp had endured that day, the most recent of which was the endurance-testing activity of flying far and fast with its Trainer on its back.

Professor Sycamore ran over to his Pokémon as it fell out of its Mega-Evolved state. It remained on the ground for a moment more before Professor Sycamore helped it up. It held the guise of looking strong again once it was back on its feet, but Mairin knew it wasn't. Otherwise it wouldn't have been so hard to stand up.

Mairin looked to where Alain, Diantha, Ash, and now Steven, Serena, and Misty were staring back at them, waiting. She made a split-second decision.

"Go!" she shouted. "We'll catch up!"

"What? Mairin, what are you talking about?" Professor Sycamore asked.

Bébé had been floating by Mairin's ear the whole time and suddenly Mairin knew that she had a different purpose right now than she'd thought.

"We need to rest here for a minute," Mairin informed him. "But I don't want to slow everyone else up. So you guys, go!"

She'd turned to the rest of the group for that last statement, feeling more self-assured than she had all day. Alain was looking at her with concern as he asked, "Are you sure?"

Mairin nodded. "I'm sure! Now, go!"

Ash, Diantha, Steven, Serena, and Misty continued on their way at her word, but Alain lingered for a second longer, as though he was trying to get a read on her. But he must have seen exactly what she was trying to give off, because after a moment, he turned and followed everyone else.

"Why did you do that, Mairin?" Professor Sycamore asked.

Mairin put a hand behind Bébé to coax her forward in the air and present her to Professor Sycamore.

"Garchomp is exhausted," she said. "And since it's your only Pokémon, you really need it at top strength. I'd like for Bébé to be able to help with that."

"Okay," Professor Sycamore said, still looking a bit bewildered.

"Bébé, use Wish."

Just like before, a sparkling energy left Bébé and went over to Garchomp. As its strength came back, it was able to stand straighter, hold its eyes open wider. Mairin stood back, pleased.

"That's remarkable, Mairin," Professor Sycamore said. "I didn't know that you had another Pokémon."

"That's because I never used her," Mairin said. "I was afraid of the same thing happening to her that happened to Chespie. I was afraid I was a bad Trainer."

"You were afraid of yourself."

Mairin nodded, feeling a small urge to cry again, but repressing it. "Yeah. But I guess I'm learning that it's better to try than to do nothing."

A small smile grew on Professor Sycamore's face. "I agree. And having a Pokémon with Wish will be invaluable today."

 _Invaluable_. Maybe yesterday that word would have been too much to bear. Too much pressure.

But today it meant she had worth. So much it couldn't be counted.

She liked that.

* * *

Serena was now doing something that she'd grown very familiar with in the last year or so of traveling with Ash: following him headlong into the unknown. It was strange. The unknown, in this case, was scarier than it ever had been, but the familiarity of the action was comforting. Serena had an abundance of trust in Ash, and that made her light on her feet as she chased him up the Giant Rock.

It was weird to leave behind Mairin. Their journeys today had been entwined nearly the whole time. But Serena hadn't seen such confidence from that girl all day, and she wasn't about to question her when it arose. So she went back to Ash.

She had no clue what Ash's journey had been that day. But he was running faster than any of them, and he looked really good, so she assumed he'd made it through whatever he'd had to do that day like he always did.

Maybe it didn't quite matter what he'd done while she'd been looking for Chespie with Mairin. But really, she thought it probably mattered very much. Regardless, she wanted to know. So, with her feet aching, she upped her pace to close the gap. She leapt over some stationary vines and kept her eyes to the ground so that she wouldn't stumble.

"Ash!" she called out with him still a little in front of her. "I want you to catch me up!"

Ash glanced back at her. "Sorry, Serena, you heard Mairin! We can't slow down!"

Serena almost laughed. Every pinch of normalcy he gave her made all of this feel like it was just another jam in which they had to rescue Pikachu and send Team Rocket blasting off. But she held off and replied, "No, I mean, what have I missed?"

"I can help you out with that."

Serena hadn't noticed, but she suddenly found herself nearly in stride with Misty, the girl who'd shown up with Ash. Perhaps that was the update she most needed.

"Oh!" Serena exclaimed. "Right, we haven't met! I'm Serena."

"I'm Misty," the girl said. "Ash and I used to travel together years ago."

So that explained that. Kind of. It explained how she knew Ash, but not what she was doing here. The girl didn't seem Kalosian and, as far as Serena knew, Ash hadn't known anyone from Kalos except for her. Maybe she was visiting? Maybe she'd wanted to see him compete in the Kalos League?

"I travel with Ash now," Serena panted. She'd run a lot with Ash and Bonnie—and kind of Clemont—over the past year and considered herself to be in good shape, but it was really hard to talk while running. Misty seemed to be fairing fine, though. Even through the girl's jeans, Serena could see how muscular Misty's legs were.

"So, Serena," Misty started, her voice high, but even. "What do you want to know?"

Well, Serena knew that Xerosic, the Team Flare scientist, had informed them about Chespie and the Giant Rock. But that was really all the background she had. And she desperately wanted to know what she'd left behind when she, Mairin, and Sycamore had flown to Lysandre Labs. "What happened in Lumiose?"

"Okay, I only came in part way, but here's the short version. Ash and his Greninja were being controlled in their bonded state by a Mega-Evolution ray of Team Flare's. There was a big battle that he, Lysandre, Alain, myself, and Malva were all a part of. Bonnie got one of the Zygardes to break free of the mind control and Clemont detonated Prism Tower to destroy the ray. We escaped, regrouped, shuffled the deck and here we are. Team Rocket flew us here. I assume you know them?"

Serena laughed. "Very well."

Misty chuckled as well. "Me too."

Serena was relieved at that. But it felt immoral to feel any inklings of levity. To have any nice emotions like relief or to share a chuckle with someone. It felt like a betrayal to Mairin, and, well, to the whole world. But this girl, Misty, had a confidence, a coolness that Serena wasn't sure she had. But it made her feel like if Misty thought it was okay to laugh a little, then it was. Maybe it was just that Serena implicitly trusted Ash's choice in friends. If the two of them had been friends for years, then she had to be made of good character.

Still, the giggles and lightness only came in moments at a time. A vine came from behind and smacked Misty hard in the shoulder. She gasped as she stumbled forward, but Serena was close enough to her to reach her arms out and stabilize the other girl. Misty tossed her a wincing grin as the two kept up with the rest of the group. Serena looked at Misty's shoulder worriedly. She was fine, but that would leave a mighty bruise tomorrow. Assuming all went well today.

"You said Ash was mind-controlled?" Serena asked, wanting a little more than the short version had provided.

"Yeah, I wasn't there when it started," Misty said. "I flew in from Kanto when I saw what was happening here on TV. Gosh, it sounds so crazy to say out loud. But anyway, it was like he and his Greninja were these relentless fighting machines. And the rest of his Pokémon were being held in the air, forced to watch."

Serena looked forward again at Ash, Greninja, and Pikachu. She could see no remnants of that on any of them. Ash and Greninja were in perfect health, finding a path and trailblazing for the rest of them. Greninja was cutting down more vines than any of the rest of their Pokémon and Pikachu was doing what he could with Iron Tail. She couldn't believe that just hours ago they'd been fighting to the death.

"And Clemont destroying the ray freed them?"

Misty paused for a moment before responding. "Not exactly," she said finally.

"Then what?"

This break was longer than a pause. For a second, Serena thought that Misty hadn't heard her—the environment they were in wasn't exactly silent, after all. The winds were crazy at the speed they were running and the vines all around them were crashing into each other or the Rock itself right and left. She would have repeated herself had she not seen the pensive expression on Misty's face.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," she finally said.

Serena would have scoffed if she'd had the breath for it. "I think I'll believe anything today."

That didn't rouse the answer out of Misty. They climbed higher on the Rock, everything was uphill as they rounded toward its front, evidenced by the burning in Serena's quads. They must have gone too far down from their initial spot higher on the Rock where they'd landed. Or maybe this was the only viable route; she didn't know. Serena had seen the Rock's Zygarde-like shape forming as it had destroyed Lysandre Labs. If she tried to picture it, she could see that they were now leaving its side and reaching its chest. They were getting closer.

"Well, it's the cheesiest thing in the world," Misty started, her voice quieter so Serena had to lean closer to her to hear. "I probably wouldn't believe you if you told me."

"I'm from Kalos," Serena replied. "We're all for cheese around here."

Misty smiled. "Probably not this kind. But I suppose if the worst happens, I'd rather not be worrying about information I've withheld. So, should we find ourselves facing another Mega-Evolution ray, it turns out the only thing to break its connection is love."

"Love?" Serena wondered aloud, suddenly more confused than she'd been a minute ago.

"Reminding the person or Pokémon that's being controlled that you love it. It's what Bonnie did with her Zygarde."

"With Squishy…?" Serena murmured, much too quiet for Misty to hear. "How did she do it?"

"I imagine she told it."

So Misty didn't know for sure. That must have been happening somewhere else. "Did she tell Ash as well?"

"No," Misty panted, ducking and putting an arm on Serena's shoulders to bring her down as well as a vine went over their heads. Everyone in front of them had ducked as well, giving them ample warning to do so. After it passed them, Misty's Starmie cut it down for good measure. "Well, she did, but it didn't do anything."

"So who did?"

Again, there was no immediate answer from Misty. Serena was starting to think that was just how the other girl spoke. Or perhaps it was more a product of the marathon they were running.

"I had to," Misty said finally.

"Oh!" Serena exclaimed, her voice high and breathy. If she weren't running, it probably would have been quite loud too. "Well, uh, the two of you have known each other quite a while, so I suppose that makes sense."

"Yeah," Misty replied, almost too quiet for Serena to hear.

Serena hadn't known what she'd expected out of her line of questioning. But Misty's confession felt shocking nevertheless. Now, Serena suddenly felt heavy. It took everything in her not to slow her stride or stop running altogether. It was petty in the grand scheme of things. But this girl, Misty, looked like she was everything Serena was not. She was athletic, self-assured, a strong Trainer. She'd come all the way from Kanto to help. It was different than Miette saying that there was a competition between the two of them for Ash's affections. Serena knew that Miette was doing that to rile her up more than anything. _This_ was intimidating.

"Oh," Serena said again, this time quieter.

"It's, um…" Misty started, drawing Serena's now rather dazed attention back to her. "Don't tell him. Please."

"Oh, don't worry about it," Serena replied frantically. If she couldn't even manage to tell Ash about her own crush, she wasn't about to mention the L word in any capacity to him. And then, because Serena was an apparent masochist, she asked, "So does that mean that you, uh…"

Serena trailed off and maybe she would have blushed if her blood wasn't already being frantically pumped throughout her whole body. Her face was probably already at maximum redness.

"There is no way I'm answering if you won't ask the question," Misty said, seemingly purposefully looking away from Serena. Of course, she'd been looking primarily at the ground like Serena had been, but now her chin seemed further away? Or maybe Serena was just projecting. She didn't know.

"Um, just…what did you mean when you said it?"

"When I said it?" Misty asked, eyes raised. Serena didn't know how to interpret that expression. "I meant that I love him."

Serena could have groaned. Mostly at herself, because she hated that she was nosy—and self-flagellating—enough to ask, but a little bit at Misty too. But, then again, if the roles were reversed, she probably wouldn't be answering very differently. At least, she hadn't ever quite been straight with Miette or Nini or even Shauna. "I mean…what kind of love?"

Misty sighed. "I suppose you could say I've had feelings for him for…a really long time."

Her heart had been tensing as she waited for the answer, and, predictably, Misty's words caused a sharp squeeze to go through it. It was what Serena had expected, but it didn't make it hurt any less. Actually, it was worse. Suddenly all the build-up of the past year was crashing down on her.

She'd been taking her time with Ash. Even with all the pushing from her girlfriends to tell him, Serena had never felt pressured to move things beyond where they'd been with him. She'd been enjoying her time with him and without telling him, she could live out the fantasy that she'd dreamt about since they were kids. He was like a pretend boyfriend to her, and that had been almost good enough. Good enough to keep her from risking her true feelings.

But now she wished she'd told him. Not because this Misty girl was a romantic rival, but because now there was a very real chance that she'd never get to tell him how she felt. And she felt like such an idiot for having held it back. She should have told him! She'd had so many chances and she'd just been too damn scared. It had been too easy not to.

She couldn't even find it in herself to be angry with the other girl. A little jealous, maybe. Or maybe a lot jealous. But really, she was just mad at herself. She wanted to kick and scream, maybe give that Lysandre a good kick in the face for forcing her to carry regrets. She was fifteen! That was too young for regrets!

As she stole another look at the other girl, Serena realized that Misty probably felt the same. They were the same in this way. Perhaps in many.

Serena realized that nothing but pants had left her mouth for a number of steps and she had to say something. "Well, I'm glad that could save him."

"Yeah," Misty agreed, her voice suddenly sounding uplifted. "Hah, I guess that's a good thing."

They both watched as Ash tripped in front of them, almost taking a full tumble to the ground. Serena felt her heart catch and a surge of adrenaline pump through her veins, as though if she sprinted, she'd be able to catch him. But he managed to catch himself and continued forward without losing his stride. As the extra boost of adrenaline drifted away, Serena glanced at Misty, knowing that the other girl had probably felt the exact same moment of panic and relief. Suddenly, Serena felt like it was unfair that she knew the other girl's secret, but she didn't know hers.

"Um, thanks for sharing with me," Serena said unsurely.

"Yeah, just remember, mum's the word."

"Really, don't worry about that," Serena reassured her. "I would never."

She would never tell.

* * *

Ash had no idea of anything that was going on behind him. All that was on his mind was what lay ahead. Physically, it was Chespie and more challenges from the Giant Rock. Not physically, it was saving Chespie and the potential destruction of the Rock. He was also very concerned with the physical present, which had just tried to trip him and send him off the edge of the Rock.

He shifted his gaze down to watch where he was going a little better. His eyes found Pikachu, an easy focus point. Pikachu was just in front of him, expertly navigating the uneven terrain of the Rock. His little buddy was excellent at that. Even though he didn't run the same way Pikachu did, he mostly tried to follow the same path. He trusted Pikachu to find the path of least resistance better than he could.

"Are we getting close, Diantha?" Ash called just behind him.

Diantha closed her eyes for just a moment, somehow still running, and then shouted back, "It should be just up ahead! As soon as we see pink crystal, that's where it is!"

Ash nodded and tried to pick up the pace. He wasn't actually able to, but he felt more invigorated. They'd save Chespie, then save the world. Done and done.

"Greninja, let's up the ante!"

Both Ash and Greninja stopped for a moment as it felt as though their souls were merging into one. This would give them every extra bit of strength they needed to get to Chespie and destroy the rock.

As soon as the transformation was complete, Greninja leapt into the air and sliced three more vines in an instant like it was nothing. Ash felt a little buoy in his system as well. It was as though Greninja's energy was coursing into him, as though the energy of the Bond Phenomenon was coursing between them. He could feel that Greninja wanted nothing more than to save Chespie, and that only redoubled Ash's resolve.

Pikachu jumped up over a crevice in the Rock. It wasn't a big gap, only a couple feet—easy. But as soon as Ash was airborne, a vine snatched him out of the air. Pikachu immediately stopped in its tracks and cried back for its Trainer. He leapt into the air, his tail turning silver with an Iron Tail and set aim on the vine, only for Ash to be carried higher.

"Ash!" Ash heard various voices cry out from under him.

"Greninja!" he shouted as Pikachu fell back to the ground. Greninja leapt into the air as well, an ice blade summoned, and reached for the vine. Ash cried out as, suddenly, the vine squeezed tighter around him, pressing his arms painfully into his side. As he did, Greninja fell to the ground.

"Ash!" he heard again, this time definitely making out Misty's voice.

"Go on ahead," he groaned. "Save Chespie!"

"Not until you're okay!" It was Serena this time.

Ash looked down. He was shockingly high in the air; he hadn't even realized the vines were that long. He found Alain's face in the group. "Alain! Go! _Now_!"

Alain stared at Ash for only a moment before nodding, and he and his Charizard continued on, Diantha and Steven following after him.

"Ash! You're too high up! We can't cut you down!" Misty shouted.

Both Misty and Serena stayed behind, Misty's Starmie stirring around them. And Ash knew both girls well enough than to try to force them away. Neither would accept it.

Frankly, Ash's best idea was still for them to cut him down. He'd survived a number of big drops before. Usually it was more of a sliding down a mountain situation than being dropped straight to the ground but, still, he seemed to have an incredible ability to survive. That meant he'd probably survive this too, right?

"I can see that stupid look on your face, Ash!" Misty shouted. "It's too high a drop! Just because you've survived ones in the past doesn't make this one any less likely to kill you! Or break a leg!"

Fine, then. Ash looked around, trying to see if maybe there was a different part of the rock that he was closer to. Something with a good spot to land on that was higher than where the girls and Pikachu were. But there was nothing close enough.

As his eyes roved around, though, a spot of red in the distance caught his eye. He noticed that he could see the river that they were headed towards and suddenly he realized that that thing was the sundial. Red instead of its usual pink and way closer than Ash had been imagining. He looked down at Misty and Serena and instantly decided not to tell them. What would it help anyway?

He had no other ideas of how to get down. The vine kept waving him around, so he'd probably just have to wait until it brought him back closer to the ground. Then one of the Pokémon could strike and he wouldn't have that far to fall. Until then, he'd just have to wait and watch as they drew closer and closer to the sundial.

But it was nearly impossible with all the thoughts running through his mind as they were barreling towards the end of the world. He couldn't believe that this was the first time in years that he'd seen Misty in person. It had been far too long since he'd talked to her or any of his other friends. Or his mother, for that matter. But it was really Misty that he was thinking about. He didn't know if it was just because she was the one in front of him, or something else, but he found himself really regretting the time he'd spent apart from her. He realized that he'd really meant what he'd said back in the lab: he wanted to save the world so that he'd get the chance to be with her again. But he'd never get there if he was trapped by this damn vine!

Ash let out a breath and tried to relax. If he loosened the muscles in his arms and abdomen then the vine became a little less oppressive. He was just practicing taking shallow breaths when he saw a vine smack Greninja in the back. Greninja went airborne and a different vine got it from the front, wrapping around Greninja's narrow frame and squeezing. Ash gasped, feeling a twin jolt of pain in his own body, just like if they were in a Pokémon match.

Pikachu reacted immediately, performing another Iron Tail that hit the vine squarely. His tail sliced through the vine, but it was too thick. The vine didn't severe and Pikachu fell to the ground.

"No!" Serena shouted, jumping into the air and grabbing hold of the vine. She tried to pull the coil in which Greninja was wrapped, but it had a vice-like grip. Even the tapered end of the vine wouldn't budge.

Ash watched as Serena's fingers slipped and the girl fell to the ground, a shriek escaping her lips. The shriek gave way to a scream when she hit the ground. She landed feet first, but they fell out from under her and she collapsed when she hit the rock.

"Serena!" he shouted.

Misty and Pikachu both ran over to her and he barely heard Misty asking if she was okay. He couldn't hear the conversation that followed until Serena shouted up to him, "I'm okay!"

Misty helped Serena back to her feet and let herself be leaned on. Ash tried to see what was happening. That didn't _look_ okay.

"There's no way to push or pull the vines," Serena shouted for his benefit, her voice sounding a little strained. "Just sit tight, Ash!"

He tried not to squirm as he watched the troubling scene on the ground, as well as the one next to him as Greninja was raised to his level. As his vine waved him about, he saw Greninja's bringing it back as though winding up for a baseball pitch. Suddenly, Ash knew what was coming next.

"Greninja, Water Pulse!" he shouted urgently.

Ash didn't know if it was just another product of their Bond Phenomenon, but Greninja seemed to start the move before the words had finished leaving Ash's mouth. A blast of water came out of Greninja's mouth and was aimed at a section of rock right in front of him. Some small pebbles of shrapnel came off the rock as the pressurized water hit it and came Ash's way, and probably towards the girls and Pokémon below him, but he didn't care. The force was enough to stop the vine's swing before it smashed Greninja into the rock-face.

After a few moments, Greninja was able to let up the Attack and the vine moved slowly and aimlessly like Ash's. But there had been something intentional in that movement. Ash didn't know how, but now it was abundantly obvious that this wasn't simply a matter of sitting tight. They would all have to be very careful until they thought of a plan.

And neither of those were things Ash did well.

* * *

The Giant Rock was looming close enough that if you were one of the few standing outdoors in Anistar City you could see it. The city itself was silent, save for that ominous rumbling in the distance that warned of its approach.

The only people witnessing this, of course, were the Gym Leaders of Kalos, and Charlene. Charlene had watched as the Leaders set up all the entry hazards that they could. Their tactics were limited, since the sundial jutted out into the river, and very few things could be set up on the water. They'd gone around this a little by freezing the water coming up to the sundial, using Wulfric's Abomasnow. They couldn't freeze the whole river, obviously, but hopefully the Giant Rock would travel slower through ice than water.

To get closer to the Giant Rock, Viola's Surskit took to the water and, with the help of her Vivillon, she, herself, was ready to take to the sky. They would be the first line of attack.

Meanwhile, the others were doing what they could to bulk up. Sylveon was copying Lucario's Swords Dances by using Psych Up and, to Charlene's shock, Ramos and Grant were engaging in a battle.

"Gimme what you've got, Ramos!" Grant shouted as Amaura stood in front of him.

"Don't worry about me, Grant!" Ramos replied. "Gogoat, use Grass Knot!"

"Amaura, dodge and use Aurora Beam!"

Even Charlene could tell that Amaura was pretty strong, but didn't have a lot of speed on its side. It didn't manage to dodge the Attack altogether, but it still managed to pull off an Aurora Beam that landed a super effective hit on Gogoat.

"Alright, no worries! Use Razor Leaf!"

"Use Rock Tomb around yourself!"

In a moment, Amaura was able to summon a circle of rocks, protecting it from the barrage of sharp leaves blowing towards it. Some of the leaves cut through the rock, but they didn't do much damage when they hit Amaura, and fell to the ground harmlessly.

"You'll have to do better than that!" Grant shouted. "Amaura, use Take Down!"

Leaping over the remaining rocks, Amaura began sprinting towards Gogoat. But, Gogoat had much better speed than Amaura did.

"Cut it off with Vine Whip, Gogoat!"

Vines sprang from the leafy section around Gogoat's neck and caught Amaura's legs. The Pokémon tumbled to the ground and Grant bit his lip.

"Come on! Get up, Amaura, and use another Aurora Beam!"

Wincing, Amaura pushed itself up and pulled off a slightly weaker, but still super effective Aurora Beam. Gogoat tried to run out of the way, but Amaura swung the move to the side and managed to catch the other Pokémon straight on.

"Gogoat!" Ramos shouted.

And the match was over. As a referee, Charlene might have waited five seconds to call it, but they were playing by a different set of rules tonight. So, Ramos ran over to his Gogoat and encouraged it to use Synthesis and Milk Drink a couple of times.

Meanwhile, Grant walked over to Amaura, who looked worse for wear, but was still standing.

"Great job, Amaura," he said, stroking the Pokémon's long neck. "If you're ready, now's the time. It's okay now."

Amaura called its own name and then smiled before a bright glow began to overtake its body. Grant stepped back as the Pokémon doubled in size before everyone's eyes. When the glowing faded, everyone was looking up at a huge Aurorus.

"Congratulations, Aurorus!" Grant celebrated, this time having to reach up to pat the Pokémon's neck. "You did it."

"Excellent work, Grant!" Viola shouted from where she was tying some sort of makeshift harness onto Vivillon's body.

Grant shot Viola a smile, and stood back to look at his new Pokémon, looking pleased with the result.

"Wow, how did you encourage it to evolve like that?" Charlene asked upon approaching Grant.

"I've been holding back from evolving Amaura and Tyrunt for years so I would have adequate partners to use against weaker Gym challengers," he answered. "With Amaura, it's been easier, since they can only evolve at night, but that just made this the perfect time."

Grant gestured to the moon rising in the sky, but Charlene knew that he didn't just mean that. They also had the battle of their lives before them. He would need every tool in his arsenal to climb that wall, and having the strongest Pokémon possible was part of that. Sure he might have to raise a new Pokémon to battle against beginners, but that was an impossibly small price to pay for being a bit more prepared to fight the Giant Rock. He and Aurorus had done what they had to do.

"Here, Grant," Ramos said as he approached the younger Gym Leader. "Let me and Gogoat do what we can to heal your new friend."

"Thank you, Ramos," Grant said, looking ominously out into the distance where the rumbling was louder than it had been a moment ago. "I'd like that."

* * *

"Malva? Malva?"

Malva awoke to a vision of nothing but haze. Immediately she reached for her bedside table where she put her glasses before bed, but she ended up touching a dusty pair of trousers. Then she remembered that she wasn't in her bed, this wasn't a normal day, and she couldn't see because the air was thick with death particles.

Malva groaned as she pushed herself up, moving to sit on the strange capsule. It made as bad a bench as it had a pillow, but it was better than the jagged pieces of metal, concrete, and stone around her. When she blinked a few times a couple figures came to life in front of her. She nearly groaned when she saw who they were.

"How did you find me?" Malva asked, quickly realizing that her mouth still tasted like vomit. She would have spat, but her throat was so dry that she didn't think she could.

"Golbat came back for us," the female grunt answered. "What happened to you?"

Malva really was the worst prison guard ever to exist. Not only had all four of her captives left their informal prison, but two of them had actually saved her. If her reputation weren't already presumed to be total shit after today, that definitely would have been a blow to it.

"Nothing, I was just taking a rest," Malva said, standing so as to take back some image of respect. Or strength. Something not utterly humiliating. "Our friends are back there in that stone cage."

Malva stopped short.

"They are still there, aren't they?" she asked, not daring to look.

The male grunt nodded. "Yeah, they're not in great shape either."

"Okay," Malva said, trying to think like a leader again. "We need to get them back to the lab and get us all out of this air before I die of cancer at thirty-five."

She was actually thirty-seven, but she told everyone she was thirty-two. She didn't feel like giving up that lie today along with everything else.

"Right, okay," the boy replied, perfectly agreeable like a proper grunt.

Malva returned Chandelure and called on Torkoal to do something about the rocks that were still imprisoning the two girls. Then they headed to the lab much the same way as when they'd run from Prism Tower the first time. Aliana and Bryony were on the backs of Pyroar and Houndoom, but this time nobody had it in them to do more than walk. Not to mention, this time it was the grunts keeping them upright while Malva carried the addition of the capsule.

Malva was pleased to see that one of the grunts had been clever enough to prop open the door to Professor Sycamore's lab with one of his books. The front hall was now covered in a thin layer of dust and when Malva took the grunt's goggles off, she could see that the air had a thin haze, almost like dense fog throughout the room. But it wasn't anything like outside. For one, she could see all the way to the back wall. Outside she couldn't see her hand out in front of her. She wasn't sure she'd have been able to if it had been daylight either.

"Okay, we're not playing around this time," Malva said as she adjusted her grip on the capsule for the thousandth time. "We're locking them away."

"What?"

Bryony lifted her head slightly and looked around a bit, not quite managing to focus on Malva. Her gaze was past Malva's shoulder, somewhere on the wall. Their wits were coming back to them quickly and Malva wanted them taken care of before then.

Malva led them to the same room they'd been in before, which was still in the same disturbed state her Pyroar had left it in. She dropped the capsule on the couch that was still upright and leaned back, cracking her spine. But she didn't stop there. She ushered everyone into the miniature infirmary and slid the girls off of her tired Pokémon, placing them on the floor. Then she shooed everyone out and slammed the door. When she exited, she dropped to her knees and began fiddling with the door knob.

"What are you doing?" the female grunt asked.

"What's your name?" Malva returned, ignoring the question for the moment.

The girl didn't respond for a second, and Malva imagined she had some dim expression on her face. She must have been quite taken aback not to be able to answer what her name was promptly.

"Ines," the grunt answered.

"Great, Ines," Malva said emotionlessly as she continued working. "And what's your name?"

Even though she didn't look his way, and her body language didn't change, the male grunt was able to realize she'd been speaking to him. "Nathan."

"Okay, guys. Ines, Nathan. I'm going to lock this door and take off the handles so that these girls can't get out. At least not quickly. I don't think there's anything in that room they'd be able to lift that could break the glass and," Malva flashed three PokéBalls. "I have their Pokémon."

"Wow," Ines said, leaning in closer to look at Malva's handiwork. "How'd you learn to do that?"

"I was a smart kid. Smart but bored and rocking a mean sense of humor. This wasn't an altogether uncommon prank for me."

Just then, the doorknob fell into her hand and Malva pushed and pulled on the door to show it wasn't going anywhere.

"Great," Malva said, pushing herself back up to standing and walking over to the couch. She used her hand to wipe a bit of the dust off of the capsule and stared at it. "Now we need to figure out what this is all about."

* * *

Clemont was relieved when he saw Professor Sycamore's tall frame in the distance. He'd thought that they'd fallen really behind, but it seemed they'd managed to catch up after all.

"Professor!" Clemont wheezed, so that the man wouldn't take off without them. He raised his hand to wave, his arm suddenly feeling heavy and weak from the exertion. He dropped it immediately.

"Clemont?" Professor Sycamore said in confusion as he turned around. "We didn't know where you'd gotten off to."

As Clemont, Bonnie, and their dad caught up to the professor, they noticed Mairin was next to him. But she was the only one.

"Where's everyone else?" Bonnie asked, reaching the two of them first and having much more breath under her than Clemont did. He doubled over, gasping so loudly it hurt his throat.

"We stayed behind to heal Professor Sycamore's Garchomp," Mairin explained to Clemont's surprise. She was the last one he would have expected to stay behind for any reason. Except maybe for Ash.

"We didn't want to hold back the group, so everyone else went on ahead," Professor Sycamore continued.

"So, we should catch up!" Bonnie said.

Clemont almost groaned. His mind had convinced his body that he was done running for the moment, and whatever rhythm he'd built up in the last few minutes of running had escaped his body entirely. Every muscle in his body now felt both heavy and stiff. Like he'd never move normally again. The last thing he wanted to do was start them up again.

"Yes, we should," Professor Sycamore agreed. "And now that my friend is at full health again, I'd like to call upon its full strength. Garchomp, Mega-Evolve!"

"You too, Blaziken!" Meyer said, throwing out Blaziken's PokéBall.

Clemont watched as both Pokémon Mega-Evolved before his eyes. His father's Blaziken shifted into the Pokémon he'd grown so accustomed to seeing with Blaziken Mask; one with darker legs and streams of fire coming out of its wrist. A horn pushed its way out the center of its face and its wing stretched into a new pattern. Blaziken gave a cry as it emerged in its new form, looking incredibly powerful up close.

Meanwhile, Garchomp's blade-like fins—or fin-like blades, Clemont wasn't really sure—changed shape and alignment with its arms and more spikes erupted from its body like a whole array of adult-teeth simultaneously bursting through a child's gums.

Both Pokémon were very fast, and took care of wayward vines before they even came close to the rest of the group. Professor Sycamore laughed, a smile on his face. "Looking good, Garchomp! Fresh as a daisy!"

And Garchomp did look strong. It looked like it had just gotten back from a visit to the Pokémon Center and maybe even ingested a couple vitamins along the way.

They had only just started in the direction in which Professor Sycamore and Mairin seemed to think the rest of the group had gone when they noticed Zygarde once again lingering behind them, this time its snout wrinkled into a feral growl.

"Zygarde?" Bonnie asked, the first to notice. "What's wrong now? Is it the new people?"

Zygarde didn't show any sign of acknowledgement to Bonnie's words, it just kept growling, its eyes locked toward Professor Sycamore and Meyer.

"Maybe it doesn't like adult men," Clemont posited. "They might remind it of the scientists that experimented on it."

"Could be," Sycamore agreed, looking ponderous. Then he leapt back as Zygarde let out a loud bark.

Just then, Blaziken swung in, stomping a vine that would have smashed right into Zygarde. However, Zygarde didn't even flinch. It might not have even noticed, for all Clemont could tell.

"See?" Meyer asked, taking a step back toward Zygarde. "We wanna help and protect you too. We're not just asking for your help without the expectation that we're all gonna be there for each other. We help you and you help us."

Zygarde stopped growling, but didn't take a step forward.

"Has it been fighting you like this the whole way?" Professor Sycamore asked.

"Yes," Meyer said, unable to completely hide his irritation. "For a while now."

"Interesting," Professor Sycamore said. "I wonder what the reason is."

Zygarde glowered at him, but began to walk, curving on the narrow path as far away as it could from Meyer and Professor Sycamore. And so they continued on.

* * *

Alain wasn't looking behind him, but he could feel the weight of their numbers having dwindled. When they first landed on the Giant Rock, he couldn't have told you how many were in their group. Half a dozen? A full dozen? Quite a number for this delicate operation, yet not nearly enough for the task of saving the world. But now it was just him and two of the world's Champions. It sure made his hours' old League-winner status seem quaint.

But, as far as he was concerned, he had the best people for the job flanking him. Of course, he would have preferred if Mairin had been there beside him, and maybe even Ash but, truthfully, if anyone could assist in saving Chespie, it would be these two legends.

Alain's heart caught in his throat when he saw a glimmer of red in front of him. The rock that they were running on as well as the vines had thin veins of bright red scarring the otherwise pitch black color, but this was something more. It was a big swath of reddish-pink, like Diantha had described. He didn't even need to hear it when she shouted, "That's it! Up ahead!"

Somehow, Alain found it in himself to run faster. His Charizard flew by his side, keeping easy pace with him as they charged toward the spot. In their approach, Alain saw just how huge this section of the rock had to be. It made up a big portion of the chest, probably near ten meters from top to bottom. And Chespie wasn't even half a meter.

"It's in the middle!" Diantha shouted, as though reading Alain's mind. Maybe Gardevoir _was_. Did it have the power to do that?

Actually, Alain didn't care if it did. Whatever government conspiracy that train of thought could turn into would have to wait for another day because soon he found himself in front of the crystalline pink part of the rock. It was like the most vivid rose-quartz, somehow lit from within. Alain wasted no time.

"Charizard, Flamethrower!"

"Gardevoir, Shadow Ball!"

The Attacks combined and hit the Rock. Not the center, where Diantha claimed Chespie to be, but off a little to the side. The Flamethrower didn't break through like Alain hoped it might. Instead, the crystal surface of the Rock deflected the move and it angled out to the side, dissipating into the air. Gardevoir's Shadow Ball did much the same thing, shrinking into nothing as it slipped off to the side.

"Damn it," Alain growled, frustrated. "Thunderpunch!"

Charizard's fist crackled with electricity and it crashed into the Rock, the same spot where the moves had deflected. When the sparks faded away, Alain looked at the place where the move had impacted, trying to see if any damage had been done.

"Did it feel like it gave way at all, Charizard?"

Charizard looked at Alain with an uncertain expression, muttering its name.

"Beldum, Take Down!" Steven called, trying his hand at it.

Beldum reared back before charging toward the crystalline structure. When the Iron Ball Pokémon impacted, Alain swore that he heard something. Instead of just a dull thwack, like Charizard's move had made, this one was deeper, with more resonance. There wasn't a crack to speak of yet—not one he could see—but this thing wasn't unbreakable. They could get in.

"Okay, no more playing games. Key Stone, respond to my heart! Beyond evolution, Mega-Evolve!"

Alain watched as Charizard underwent the familiar transformation of Mega-Evolution. A bright light overcame it as its skin turned over from orange to black, from yellow to blue. Its wings ripped and became fringed, and fire erupted out of its mouth. He was pleased to see Charizard's strength was back.

"I think you've got the right idea," Diantha agreed. "Gardevoir! Now, Mega-Evolve!

The horn in Gardevoir's chest split in two and her skirt ballooned out from her hips. Gardevoir's change was less significant than Charizards, but no less impressive.

"I think Physical moves are the way to go," Steven asserted as Beldum performed another Take Down.

"Great," Diantha said as a vine suddenly came in from above. Gardevoir used Moonblast, the force of which sent the vine flying the other way. Another one followed soon after and was met by the same fate. "We'll cover the two of you while you do that."

Thunderpunch was Charizard's most practiced Physical move. He could probably have asked it to use Slash or even a Flare Blitz, but those weren't in his Charizard's repertoire. They wouldn't have the strength or precision of Thunderpunch, so he kept with that. Meanwhile, Take Down was Beldum's only move, so, even though it damaged the Pokémon with every use, it was probably the thing doing the most damage to the Rock.

"I think the vines are trying to keep us from getting to Chespie!" Diantha called out as more and more vines came at them. Soon, Gardevoir had to manipulate her Attacks, forming Moonblasts and Shadow Balls into thinner slices instead of spheres so as to cut the vines, rather than just sending them back. That did a better job of stopping them from striking again. Still, it was worse than anything Alain had seen in Lumiose.

"We're making headway!" Steven responded as Beldum smashed into the Rock again.

By now, little cracks were forming. Alain had no idea how thick the crystal might be—for all he knew, the crystal made up the whole inside of the Rock and Chespie was somehow in the middle, like an organism stuck in the middle of some amber. But, as Alain saw it, this was the only way in no matter how the Rock was formed.

"Come on, Charizard! Both hands!" Alain demanded. Charizard upped its pace, its fists barely carrying any electricity now, instead putting all its energy into the impact of the move.

"Enough of this," Steven said, pulling out two PokéBalls. Beldum was tiring, the recoil of every Take Down adding up quicker than anyone would have liked. Steven returned Beldum, and threw another PokéBall. It wasn't a surprise when his signature Metagross came out and Steven immediately called for it to Mega-Evolve.

Metagross had to hover away from the Rock, as it was so much bigger than any of the rest of them. They were already standing, more or less, on a ledge by this front marker to the Rock. There was no room for a Pokémon of 1.5 meters and five hundred kilograms, much less its one meter, four hundred kilo upgrade.

"Alright, everyone, stand back!" Steven called.

Steven, Alain, and Charizard joined Diantha and Gardevoir further back on the Rock as Metagross reared back like Beldum had before its Take Downs. And, without even having to use a move, Metagross accelerated suddenly, and smashed into the Giant Rock with its forward-facing, gold claws. Steven hadn't just Mega-Evolved it for the extra strength and heft; it was also for the useful orientation of the Pokémon's limbs.

Alain had to hold on to Charizard for support as the ground rocked. For the first time, after all of the stomping and slamming that their Pokémon had attempted against the Rock since they got here, they had a shattering impact. It took some force for Metagross to pull itself out from where it had embedded itself in the Rock, but when it pushed itself backwards, bits of crystal fell to the ground like hail. There were now gouging craters in the nearly diamond-like pink crystal, and large cracks splintering throughout it.

"One more time, Metagross!"

With the same _whoosh_ of force that sounded like a small airplane taking off, Metagross went from zero to sixty in an instant, and smashed into the crystal again, this time breaking straight through. Despite its velocity, Metagross was able to use its Psychic abilities to stop on a dime, before it could go deeper into where Chespie was being held. But there was now a large hole—about two and a half meters in diameter to be precise—for any of them to enter.

Alain immediately leapt onto a particularly thick vine and began running up it. The vines had a rugged texture, easy for his boots to grip on as he ran up the narrow slope.

"What are you doing?" Diantha shouted as Gardevoir blasted away another three vines.

"I'm going in there!" Alain replied as he ran toward the hole in the crystal. It was above where the ground was, and the crystal was smooth enough that he wouldn't have been able to climb up it. But, as the vine he was running up began to curve in a different direction, Alain shouted, "Charizard!"

Instantly, Charizard broke away from the myriad vines it had been fighting and flew to Alain's side. Alain's eyes tracked forward and toward Charizard a couple times before he took the leap and jumped onto Charizard's back. The landing was uneven, and he had to grope Charizard's neck to keep from sliding off, but he was able to wrap his legs around the Pokémon and stay astride. Even Mega-Evolved, Charizard's wings were easily able to clear the hole that Metagross had made, and sweep itself and Alain into the new chamber.

"We'll cover you, Alain!" he heard from below him as Diantha, Steven, and their Pokémon exited his vision.

If Alain had been in the state to appreciate beauty, he might have gasped. The inside of the Giant Rock was like walking into Glittering Cave and taking in the luminous moss for the first time. Or the sparkling crystals in Reflection Cave. Except, instead of blue, everything in this cave was pink with spike-like crystals. Nearly everything was pink, except for one spot deeper in the chamber. There, still glowing with pink and red, was a small form of brown and green. Chespie.

"I'm coming, Chespie!" Alain shouted, though Chespie seemed as unresponsive as ever. Alain didn't dare wonder what the state of Chespie's coma would be after this.

Charizard continued forward, but a pair of crystals immediately grew by many feet in length, crossing in front of them and effectively blocking their way. Alain steered Charizard to the side, but the same thing happened.

Alain grit his teeth. There was no way this would be what stopped him. "Destroy them!"

Charizard released Flamethrower, the blue fire reflecting off of every crystal in the chamber. The crystals glowed brightly with the heat, since Mega-Charizard X's flames were especially hot. But, for a moment, nothing happened to them. Alain was about to direct Charizard to ram into them, resorting to the physical Attacks they'd used outside, when, suddenly, the crystals that had received the brunt of the heat began to crack.

"They're cracking as they cool down," Alain murmured to himself. Then he shouted, "Charizard, engulf all of these crystals in flame!"

Even after fighting all those vines, Charizard still had a lot of energy to spare, and was able to produce a huge breath of blue flame, hitting all of the crystals in between them and Chespie. That left the chamber suddenly very hot, and Alain's grip on Charizard became sweaty. But heat he could live with. He had Charizard flap its wings in an effort to aid the cooling of the crystals. After a minute or two, all of the nearby ones began to crack, and Alain squeezed Charizard with his legs, urging the Pokémon forward. Together, they crashed through the weakened crystals and made it to the tangled structure encasing Chespie.

Chespie was being suspended by a number of the pink crystals, then surrounded by a cage of them. Its limbs were spread, each resting on a different crystal, letting gravity do most of the work. Meanwhile, the crystals around it were denser than anywhere else in the chamber, and Alain couldn't spot a hole that Chespie would fit through.

"Charizard, use Dragon Claw!"

Even with STAB in its Mega-Evolved form, the move only managed to scratch the crystals, not break any of them. And fresh ones on the other side of Chespie were growing suddenly, jabbing toward them.

"Keep it up!" Alain commanded.

Like with its Thunderpunches outside, Charizard began furiously using both arms to attack and tear through the strong, pink mineral. For a moment, he wondered where the crystals had come from. When he'd seen the Giant Rock in the past, it hadn't looked anything like the black, craggy rock or the pink crystal that it was made up of now. And while he knew that Chespie's absorbed radiation had somehow triggered what was happening now, and was charging the Rock, he still didn't understand the in betweens of it all.

But he didn't care either. He had one simple goal, and he'd be damned if he didn't reach it.

Under Charizard's constant barrage, a few of the crystals were breaking. Others were coming back in their place, but the numbers were on their side. Soon, there would be a gap large enough to Alain to reach in…

"Charizard, angle me towards Chespie!"

Abruptly, Charizard stopped the Dragon Claws and moved to the side, allowing Alain direct access. He only had a moment, he knew, and, trusting Charizard to keep him balanced, he shoved his torso into the cavity and reached for Chespie. He had to stretch with all his might but, in just a moment, Chespie was in his hands.

As though he was holding a baby, Alain slowly and carefully pulled Chespie back out, and then cradled the Pokémon to his chest. Compared to the warmth of the chamber, Chespie was oddly cold, and Alain didn't want to think about the implications of that. All he had to reassure him was the fact that the Rock was drawing energy from the Pokémon, and that meant it must still be alive.

"Go, go!" Alain shouted, urging Charizard out of the cave as a bunch of new crystals immediately began jutting out toward them. It was as though the Rock was angry its power source had been taken, and was willing to impale Alain in order to get it back.

Still, with Charizard at near full health, it was able to swiftly glide out of the chamber and back out into the night air. A few vines swept past him, but Charizard flew right by, leaving Alain feeling free and safe for just a moment.

He looked down at the Pokémon in his hands. It was cold and limp, not looking much different than it had the last time he'd seen it. But it was back. Back in his possession, where he could give it back to Mairin. He imagined her face when, very soon, he'd hand it to her, and she would be overjoyed. And for the first time that whole day, and indeed in the past year, Alain felt a pure and true sense of victory.


	12. Illuminating

Even without an exclusive interview with Xerosic, Jessie and Meowth had no shortage of footage to shoot. When James was able to navigate the helicopter close to the Rock, they were able to get footage—albeit dark and grainy footage—of the twerps and their friends navigating the rock and all the vines surrounding it. They periodically had to pull away, as the vines were long enough to get dangerously close to the helicopter, and only getting more aggressive as time went on, but James would always steer them back.

"In the dark of night, it's easy to see the glow of the mystical sundial in the distance," Jessie narrated as Meowth zoomed in on the red Anistar landmark. "The Rock is taking the path of least resistance, heading towards the water, where, on the other side, it'll find the sundial. We have no idea how it might traverse the water, as it seems to be using vines to propel itself presently, but we don't doubt that it would be able to, if that's what the Rock desires.

"I'm no expert, but I would imagine that there are only a few kilometers left for it to clear now before it collides with the sundial. We have intelligence from a credible source that the Giant Rock's seemingly inevitable impact with the sundial is Team Flare's great plan to cause an explosion that will end life as we know it on Earth.

"Now," Jessie said with a deep sigh, an unsuccessful attempt to calm her beating heart as she could see the end of the world occurring before her very eyes, "we can only hope that those risking their lives atop the Giant Rock right now will be successful in their mission. Indeed, for the Earth, and all mankind and Pokémonkind."

* * *

Charizard was just circling down, about to land near Steven and Diantha, when the rock suddenly stuttered to a halt. All vines froze in place, just like when the ray had been destroyed in Lumiose City and, for a moment, Alain wondered: was this it? Was it over, now that Chespie was saved?

But, just a moment later, the Rock started up again. The vines were sluggish at first, then amped back up to their previous ferocity. Charizard had to bob and weave between them in order to land, and when Alain demounted next to Diantha and Steven, it flew right back into the air to take on the vines again.

"What happened?" Diantha asked as she pushed herself back up to her feet. The stopping and starting of the Rock had caused her to lose her balance and fall.

"I don't know," Steven said, also seeming a bit disgruntled from the abrupt motions.

"I think taking away Chespie is what stopped it," Alain said, "but it must be getting energy from something else to have started up again."

"You got Chespie back!" Steven exclaimed, seeming to have just noticed the Pokémon in Alain's arms. "Good work, Alain!"

"It doesn't look good," Diantha commented, leaning in to look at the Pokémon.

"Actually, this has been Chespie's normal for a while now," Steven replied. "Obviously it needs a full medical evaluation, but—"

"What's our plan now?" Alain suddenly asked.

For what seemed like hours now, he'd only been thinking as far as rescuing Chespie. Whether or not it was at the crux of the Giant Rock continuing its journey, that had been his plan. Save Chespie, and give it back to Mairin. Now that that plan had been mostly accomplished, and the world was not yet saved, he had no idea what to do. And he wanted to defer to the people who were supposed to be experts on that front.

Both Diantha and Steven's mouths were pressed into thin lines. Apparently they hadn't thought much beyond this either. Alain could feel the disappointment in the pit of his stomach that this hadn't worked, and he suspected they both felt much the same way. Steven was the one to speak first.

"I suppose we need to find the rest of our company and regroup."

"That's the only way to go," Diantha agreed. "We need to find Bonnie and Meyer."

"Why?" Alain asked, wondering what the girl and her dad in particular could have to do with this.

"Because, at this point, Zygarde might be our only chance."

* * *

Ash was trying in vain to reach one of his PokéBalls. Neither Misty nor Serena had any Flying Pokémon, but Ash had Talonflame and now Charizard. If he could just release one of them, then he and Greninja could be sliced down. Even if he could only rlease one of them, and it couldn't catch them, it would be able to hold them long enough so that the fall shouldn't be painful. _Too_ painful, at least.

Then, all of a sudden, the vine stopped moving. It froze in the air and the next thing he knew, he was falling.

Ash heard his name being screamed below him as he scrambled for purchase, trying to get a grip on the vine. He felt his forearms being scraped by the bark-like texture of the vines, but he only held closer. After slipping a bit more, he finally stilled, body dangling meters above the ground. He hissed at the sudden stinging all over his forearms. When he looked up, he could already see blood dripping down them towards his blue short sleeves.

When Ash looked to his side, he could see Greninja in much the same position, except Greninja was doing what he could to hoist himself up. Ash might have tried to do the same, but as it was, it was taking everything in him just to hold on.

But he would not fall. He would not do that to Misty and Serena, nor to everyone else who was counting on him in that moment. He might not have the strength alone to save the world, but he had the strength to do this.

Then Ash noticed that the vine was moving again. Whatever had caused it to stop and relax its hold on him must have been short lived because Ash's vine, Greninja's, and every other one he could see were moving again, smashing through the air, trying to hit them. Misty's Starmie was cutting through some of those higher up in the air, keeping Ash and Greninja safe from any other vines that wanted to add on to the ones they were already stuck on, as well as blasting them back with Water moves. Meanwhile, Serena had called on Braixen to take on the ones posing a risk to herself and Misty, with Pikachu doing the same.

Ash then focused his gaze back on Greninja. It had managed to get up on top of the vine, instead of hanging underneath like Ash, but now that the vines were moving again, it had wrapped its arms and legs around it, trying to slowly and safely shimmy its way down.

Just then, Ash heard a roar in the distance. His eyes tried to find the source, but there were so many vines moving in front of his vision, he couldn't find what it was. Then, amidst the dark, he saw a bright flash of blue. Then he caught it again. All of a sudden, he broke out into a grin.

"Mega Charizard!"

Alain's Charizard was flying at a breakneck pace toward him, Mega-Evolved and in all its glory. Charizard slowed down as it neared Ash, and Ash picked just the right moment to let go of the vine and land squarely on the Pokémon's back. Charizard quickly took him down to Serena and Misty before swooping back up to collect Greninja.

"Ash, look at your arms!" Misty exclaimed.

Ash didn't have to look at them. He knew exactly what was there. None of the cuts were too deep, which was good, but they were innumerable all up and down the flesh of his forearms with little bits of vine contaminating them.

"I don't think there's anything helpful in my bag and you don't have yours," Serena murmured as she looked over the wounds. "Clemont has most of our first aid gear. I'm not sure there's anything we can do."

"That's okay," Ash said, his voice a little pained. When he breathed in, his ribs hurt more than they probably should. He didn't mention this. "A few scratches won't bother me."

"Ash, this is more than a few scratches," Misty said. "It could get really infected. Easily."

"Misty, what's the danger of infection if none of us are alive in an hour?"

That hushed her. In all the time Ash had known Misty, he'd never managed to effectively quiet her—and at the beginning of their friendship, he'd tried a number of methods. It seemed the threat of the end of the world was the one that stuck.

"So," he continued, "let's keep going."

However, they didn't have to keep going because, right then, Alain, Diantha, and Steven caught up with Charizard. Ash nearly forgot his pain when he saw Chespie in Alain's arms.

"You did it!" he exclaimed.

The other group didn't seem much interested in celebrating, though.

"We're still on course to crash into the sundial," Diantha said curtly. "We need Zygarde."

"Okay," Ash said simply, his voice falling to match Diantha's. "Let's find it then."

* * *

Fuck Aliana and Bryony, Malva thought. The first thing she should have done was run to the sink and wash her mouth out with some water.

Now that the Flare girls were securely locked away, and coming to once again, Malva went back to the kitchen to do just that. She rinsed the remaining bits of vomit out of her mouth and swished as much as she could to remove that terrible sour flavor.

Being back in relative safety again, Malva felt wrecked. Her stomach felt sore from retching and her back hurt from her impromptu nap in a position that no adult human was ever meant to sleep. But that didn't matter. Before this end of the world disaster, she'd lived by the mantra 'beauty is pain.' Well, she hadn't lived by it, but she'd embraced it when she wanted to sport a particularly painful heel or wear her hair in a tightly twisted updo. She'd never minded having to go the extra mile in that way, even if her comfort was sacrificed. With arguably much, much higher stakes now, she could do the same.

After drinking a bit of the water and finding a glass to take back with her, Malva returned to where Ines and Nathan were keeping watch over Aliana and Bryony. And they must have been back to normal, because they were speaking nonsense.

"Malva!"

"You don't know what you've done, Malva!"

"You can't do this to us!"

"You're gonna pay for this!"

Malva did nothing more than stick up a middle finger, not even bothering to give them a hint of eye contact as she walked back to the mysterious capsule. She waved the grunts over. "Nathan, Ines, let's see what's happening here."

As the grunts came over, Malva took a dishrag she'd snatched from the kitchen and began to wipe the ash off of the definitely-not-glass exterior of the capsule. It looked for all the world like glass or plastic, but it had survived that explosion, so it couldn't be, right? As the opaque gray dust disappeared from the outside, it became clear that all that was inside was this strange reddish…stuff. When she'd been carrying it there hadn't been a sloshing of liquid that she'd noticed, but it didn't look especially solid either.

The oblong container was about a meter long and maybe two thirds in width by Malva's best estimate and it was the shape of a stretched-out egg—widest in the middle and tapered on the ends. The whole thing was see-through except for one end that had a cap of metal around it.

"It must have been made by Team Flare and made to last," Malva concluded. "If these two knew it would still be there when they went looking, that is."

"Then the question is, was it made to last in case of something like a building falling, or because it needed to be strong for whatever its purpose was?" Nathan asked.

Malva looked at him curiously for a moment. He was quiet, but smarter than she might have guessed. She supposed one should never underestimate their employees.

"Or maybe both?" Ines offered.

Malva stared at the mysterious substance for a moment more when it hit her. And when it did, it was so obvious she felt like Aliana and Bryony were going to judge her for not realizing it sooner. And then she remembered that she didn't give any sort of a damn what they thought.

"It's the Mega-Evolution energy," Malva said plainly, standing up and backing away from it. Not that she needed to. That's why the casing was impenetrable, after all; because it was encasing an incredibly powerful pure energy. Lysandre and Xerosic hadn't been fucking around, after all.

"The what?" Ines asked.

Malva shook her head. She might have said something more to the girl, but the next thing she knew, she found herself swinging towards the mini-infirmary and smashing her open palm painfully into the window separating her and the Flare girls. "What were you going to do with this?" she shouted.

Neither girl looked particularly taken aback by Malva's sudden rage. But, to Malva's shock, Bryony answered, her voice slightly muffled from the wall of glass between them. "We were going to continue what Lysandre started, in case plan B doesn't go according to plan."

"Like hell you are!" Malva shouted, getting her face right up against the glass. Then she growled, "I'm going to make sure that this stuff doesn't see the light of day ever again, and neither will the two of you."

* * *

Mairin was the first to notice the black Charizard flying above. And when she did, her stomach flip-flopped for a number of reasons. The first was that Mega Charizard X, for her, meant Alain. Seeing Charizard and Alain were always good things in her mind and she was pleased to see either one of them. Then she had two contrasting thoughts. For Charizard to be showing up here, either something had gone very right, or something had gone terribly wrong. And Mairin's stomach couldn't decide which was more likely.

"Guys, look!" Mairin shouted, pointing up to draw the attention of the rest of the group.

Despite their slow start, everyone—even Zygarde—had managed to pick up the pace once they'd gotten going. Without Diantha or her Gardevoir, or any real sense for what route they'd taken, which way they'd gone, it was hard to know quite where they were going. But it was easy enough to tell where the general front of the Zygarde-shaped rock was, so they'd been headed that way as well as they could whilst fighting off the vines. Here and there they saw a few severed bits of vine that were still in place that gave Mairin hope that they were following the same path.

It only took a few moments more after Charizard came overhead for Mairin to spot first Steven's silvery-blue hair, then Diantha's bright white—really, ash gray after the day's events—iconic outfit. Then, a second later, she saw Alain. Alain, holding Chespie in his arms.

Mairin let out a gasp that might have ripped her lungs in two as she suddenly began sprinting toward Alain. She was certain she'd never run faster, barely paying any mind to the uneven ground beneath her. All that was in her mind was the need to close the gap between herself and that man.

"Chespie!" Mairin screamed when she was only one or two meters away from Alain. Then she ran right up to him, arms outstretched. Knowing exactly what she needed, Alain placed Chespie in Mairin's arms and a hand on her shoulder.

"It's doing about the same as before…" he murmured.

"It doesn't matter!" Mairin cried tearfully. "I'm just so happy my Chespie is back."

Alain cracked a tiny smile. "I'm happy too, Mairin."

Mairin's gaze finally broke from Chespie's tiny form and went up to Alain's. "Oh, Alain. Thank you so, so much!"

Paying careful mind to Chespie, Mairin wrapped only one arm around Alain's waist. But she still pulled him in as closely as she could and buried her head in his chest as the tears of relief came pouring down. It only took a moment for Alain's arms to join hers, and they embraced until her sobbing subsided and she could pull away.

When she separated from Alain, she turned to the rest of the group and saw that everyone was back together. Clemont was wrapping some gauze around Ash's arms, and Serena and Misty were there too, but everyone else seemed to be surrounding Zygarde.

"Please, you have to help us!" Bonnie was begging. But Zygarde hardly seemed to notice her.

Everyone else was saying similar things, making the same arguments Mairin had already heard that day. She had no idea what was wrong with this Pokémon, but it was immovable.

Then, all of a sudden, the ground they were standing on rocked. It was different from minutes before, when the rock had stopped and restarted again. No, this was a total change in equilibrium. And, when she thought about it, a change in the noise that was all around them. The thundering they'd been hearing before of the hundreds of vines carrying the rock across the desert now sounded almost like…splashing. Then, her eyes met Alain's again, this time in horror. At the same time, they said:

"We've hit the water."

* * *

"This is it!" Viola shouted when the Rock fell into the water.

A part of her had been hoping that the Giant Rock would sink or something and that would be the end of their troubles, but, unfortunately, that wasn't the case. She had no idea how many tons the mini-mountain had to weigh—she wasn't sure even Grant would be able to guess that—but somehow the many vines on the bottom of it were allowing it to float. Or, if not float, then swim. The vines were all almost like tiny arms, doing the freestyle in order to take the Rock to its destination. Its altogether far-too-close destination.

"Solar Beam!" was the first move Viola ordered from Vivillon. There wasn't much light to speak of—really, it was more of a lunar beam than a Solar Beam. But Vivillon had been building it up for the last many minutes; it was their strongest move, and their only opportunity to use it.

The Solar Beam came from the air, where Viola was holding onto Vivillon with her hastily made harness. Meanwhile, her Surskit had set up Protect and was pulling off an Ice Beam down below.

Fortunately, the water was already causing the Rock to move much slower than it had on land. But the Attacks were not obstructing it nearly as much as she would have liked. The ice that Wulfric's Abomasnow and Surskit had set up on the water was helping a little, since the vines had to break through it in order to keep paddling, but they hadn't been able to freeze that much. There was more ice closer to the sundial but…hopefully it wouldn't come to that.

Viola tried to stay at a nice, high angle so that the Pokémon back by the sundial could get in a good shot if they had any super long-range moves. But even though these Pokémon were some of the best of the best, no move was very strong from this kind of a distance. So, for now, she had to be the first line of defense, since no one else had a Flying Pokémon. And she would stay in the air, by golly, until she and both her Pokémon ended up in the water.

* * *

_Talk to me, friend. You know what's at stake. Why must you continue to be so stubborn?_

_We are not friends._

_Fine, we are not friends. But even the greatest enmity shouldn't stop you from being able to see what the right choice is. Make the right choice with me to end this once and for all!_

_No._

_Why not?_

_I hated my captors. But when I look at this world, and your selfish humans, I can't help but see their point._

_What about the point that all these humans here are trying to make?_

_They're hypocrites. Look at them. They're doing the very thing they claim to be against._

_Whatever do you mean?_

_You know what I mean._

_…They don't know. They don't yet know what's wrong with it._

_They're blinded by their selfishness. Blinded by their pursuit of power like the others. They don't care about Pokémon._

_I have seen nothing out of these humans but care._

_Hah._

_The Pokémon would not do it if they weren't willing._

_Then the Pokémon deserve this fate as much as the humans._

_That's not true._

_It is. I swear that it—_

* * *

Bonnie was holding all the humans back from interrupting the 'discussion' that Squishy and Zygarde were having as the two Legendaries stared at each other. Sycamore wasn't familiar with non-Psychic Pokémon who could speak through telepathy, and he was really curious as to what exactly was going on between the two Pokémon. He was sure they must have been conversing somehow, because of the strong focus and eye-contact, but it was totally unfamiliar behavior for both Ground and Dragon Types.

But it soon turned out that Bonnie had been focusing her efforts on the wrong group. While none of the humans came between the two Legendaries—despite the dire time constraint that was now on them—it seemed the Pokémon weren't assuaged. Or, at least, Greninja certainly wasn't.

Greninja suddenly came out of nowhere and tackled Zygarde to the ground before pulling off an Aerial Ace Attack.

"Greninja!" Ash shouted, lunging toward the two. Clemont, who had only just finished bandaging Ash, pulled him back, trying to rein the Trainer in.

Zygarde wasn't backing down from the fight, however. In fact, it looked like it had been spoiling for one. If it couldn't get one out of Squishy, then it was happy to take on Ash's Greninja. When Zygarde managed to overpower Greninja, throwing its weight so that Greninja's back slammed to the ground and Zygarde was now on top, Sycamore noticed Ash wincing.

"Are you okay?" the professor asked.

Ash nodded, his eyes laser focused on the battle. Greninja was still in Ash-Greninja form, and Sycamore had to assume that meant Ash was more mentally engaged than the average Trainer, even outside of a regulated match. But when Sycamore turned his eyes back to the two Pokémon tumbling on the ground, he noticed how Greninja seemed to be minding its forearms and its ribs. Then he thought about Ash's bandaged arms, and how he'd been squeezed by that vine. Could the vine have bruised or even broken some ribs? And did Greninja somehow feel it too?

Bonnie was crying at the two Pokémon to stop, but Ash clearly wanted a more active role. He managed to brush Clemont off and run over to the two Pokémon, at times stopping when Zygarde managed to land a particularly good blow.

"Ash, stop! It's hurting you!" Misty shouted.

So he wasn't the only one who'd noticed.

Meyer joined the fray, trying to pull Ash out of the way. Ash, however, wouldn't go. So then Meyer broke between the two Pokémon, using his more significant size and strength to separate them.

"Guys!" he shouted, an angry growl evident in his voice. "We have _minutes_ before this thing collides with the sundial. Is this how you want to spend them? If so, we might as well just all throw ourselves off this thing and into the water."

Misty, meanwhile, ran up to Ash and pulled him back, trying to steady him. "Ash, remember how Greninja's fighting caused you to pass out? I don't want to go through that again. Clemont doesn't have any more Potions."

"Wait, what?" Sycamore asked. "Greninja fighting made Ash pass out?"

"Ash and Greninja were hit by a laser of Mega-Evolution energy and it made them fight nonstop," Misty said hurriedly, as though she'd said it many times already. Or as though they only had a few minutes to live; Sycamore couldn't really pick out the nuances between the two.

"Is this really important?" Clemont asked worriedly, looking out towards the sundial. It was frighteningly close.

But this _was_ important. Because that sounded exactly like what the Giant Rock was doing. Moving nonstop, battering its foes in order to fulfill one purpose. So he told Misty, "Say more."

Misty, however, looked to Alain, seeming to defer to him.

"Well, I was the only one who saw him get hit by the ray," Alain said, looking a little guilty about it as he walked over to Professor Sycamore from where he and Mairin had been. "They were both hit directly and from that moment on they were brainwashed. They either did nothing when there was no threat or they would battle anyone who came at them. Ash and Greninja. And then…actually, I don't really know how they came out of it."

Alain turned back to Misty who, all of a sudden, had grown pink. She stepped away from Ash, although Ash also seemed to be listening rapturously to everything she and Alain had to say.

"Bonnie was doing something with Greninja and you were doing something with Ash, but I didn't know what you were doing," he clarified.

"Uh," Misty started glancing around from Ash to Bonnie to Serena back to Alain.

" _Misty_ ," Serena urged, moving to put a hand on Bonnie's shoulder, as if to silence the young girl, who looked ready to burst.

Serena, like Clemont, was showing her present state of panic very clearly on her face. Sycamore was starting to really feel it too. Maybe if he could unpack what was going on with the Giant Rock, they could find a way to deactivate it. Use something other than brute force or whatever Zygarde might be able to offer. But he needed answers and quickly. He tried to show this to Misty in his eyes, but she wasn't looking at him.

"Misty, you can say it," Serena pressed. "It'll be okay."

Serena seemed to have a knowing look in her eyes, and Sycamore had no idea what was behind that. She'd been with him the whole time at Lysandre Labs, so she couldn't know what had done it. But still, Misty looked at Serena and gave a tiny nod. Then she turned to Sycamore with a resolved expression.

"I had to tell him I loved him. I told him over and over again until he heard it, and he woke up and then passed out."

"That doesn't make sense," Steven said, seemingly not affected by the sudden awkwardness Professor Sycamore himself now felt. He couldn't help but notice how wide Ash's eyes had suddenly gone towards Misty. "A powerful bond is what causes Mega-Evolution to work at all. So why would love break the effects of the ray?"

"Well, we also only really know Mega-Evolution to take place in Battle," Sycamore rebutted. "To battle better. Maybe when the energy is unrestrained it has a negative effect."

"But the Giant Rock is all Mega-Evolution energy," Alain stated. "Surely that would have been enough to have the same effect, without needing Chespie to be the straw that broke the Numel's back."

"The Giant Rock isn't Mega-Evolution energy," Sycamore replied quickly.

"Lysandre said it was believed to be the origin of Mega-Evolution," Alain replied, a little taken aback by Sycamore's almost snappish response. Meanwhile, Sycamore's brain was reeling.

"It's Primal Reversion energy," Sycamore said, almost to himself, remembering what he'd read just before he and Steven had fled Lysandre Labs. "If Chespie had a lot of Mega-Evolution energy in it, that's how it triggered the Rock. Because Primal Reversion energy is dormant and Mega-Evolution is active."

"What's the point of all this, Augustine?" Meyer asked, sounding frustrated. He'd gotten Zygarde to stand down, and now had his Blaziken straight up attacking the Rock, in between knocking back the still-active vines.

"We need to unMega-Evolve our Pokémon!" he realized suddenly. "The energy is what's still powering the Rock!"

"Maybe," Steven said. "But if it is, it would be coming from the sundial, not our Pokémon. It has a lot more energy than we do."

Sycamore deflated. He couldn't refute that. But then Zygarde began barking.

"Wait!" Bonnie shouted. "I think Zygarde agrees with you!"

"But Steven's right," Sycamore said. "That can't be the reason."

"What does it matter what the reason is?" Diantha shouted, exasperated. She too seemed to be in the same camp as Meyer, as her Gardevoir went along pummeling every bit of the Rock that her moves could reach. They were very close to the sundial now, but they were moving much slower, mercifully. Then again, Sycamore had no idea if they actually had to touch the sundial, or if there was a certain distance where the power between the two behemoths would combine…

He didn't want to waste time thinking about that. Meanwhile, Bonnie shouted back, "It _does_ matter! Zygarde won't help us unless we do what it wants!"

"It _is_ what it wants!" Diantha shouted, the tiniest bit of restraint in her voice only because she was speaking to a young child, Sycamore presumed.

"For the right reasons!" Bonnie shouted over her.

Sycamore could feel the thoughts bouncing around his brain. The pressure of having to come up with an answer to an impossible set of data points. He'd had this feeling many times in his career as a scientist and even before that as a student. But whatever do or die feelings he'd had back then were dwarfed by this truly dire reality. His eyes roved around to all that was happening around him, desperately searching for the missing element. Then his eyes stopped on Ash and Greninja.

Both Pokémon and human were standing in the same position: backs slightly hunched, shoulders raised as though in discomfort, their hands awkwardly on their hips. They were keeping contact off of their ribs and arms. And then he looked at all the Pokémon around them. Not only Ash-Greninja, but also Gardevoir, Blaziken, Charizard, Metagross, and his own Garchomp, all Mega-Evolved. Then he looked to Alain. And suddenly, he heard words that the boy had said a long time ago. Back when he'd been his assistant.

_"If their types and abilities change, then it may mean that this release of power puts a burden on the Pokémon itself. Maybe that's why they only Mega-Evolve during Battle."_

He'd said so himself just a couple minutes before that Mega-Evolution had only been recorded in Battle. But in all his studies, he'd never been able to figure out the reason.

Until now. All at once, it came to him and, once again, he shouted, "Un-Mega-Evolve your Pokémon!"

" _Why_?" Alain asked, a bit of his familiar frustration creeping into his tone.

Professor Sycamore looked to Alain, a slightly manic smile on his face. "You said it yourself. Because of the _burden_. It's _hurting_ them. But they do it for us. Because of our bond! Garchomp, you can relax now!"

Garchomp instantly changed form, back to its familiar shape. The shape that it wore in the rest of its life. The shape it wore when it was relaxed or happy. When it ate and slept. Every time other than Battle.

Professor Sycamore turned to Zygarde, eyes wide. "Is that what you meant? Is that why you've been so angry at us? At our Pokémon?"

As an answer, Zygarde sat down, as though showing it was no longer on the offensive towards them. And, all of a sudden, it changed shape itself, going back down to the form that Squishy was in. The two seemed to be engaged in another conversation.

Then Diantha shouted. "Gardevoir, you can stop now!"

As soon as she said it, all the other Pokémon relaxed down into their ordinary forms as well. The last to do it was Ash's Greninja and suddenly Professor Sycamore understood why it had attacked Zygarde. If this was what Zygarde and Squishy had been talking about before, then he understood Greninja's anger. Greninja had always wanted to be strong, since it had been a Froakie. It had overcome impossible odds to find a new way to Mega-Evolve with Ash that no other Pokémon had done. It didn't think it was wrong, for the pursuit of strength, and didn't agree with what Zygarde had to say.

But once all the Pokémon were in their original states, Zygarde and Squishy came together, and a thousand bright green beams came toward them all at once. And before his eyes, he saw all the Zygarde and all their thousand pieces turning into something none of them had ever seen before. Then the next thing he knew, they were all swept off of the Giant Rock, and into the air.

* * *

"Another Aura Sphere!"

It was a good thing Korrina was commanding nothing but Aura Spheres out of her Lucario, because she wasn't wholly convinced it could hear her over the other sounds of the Battle. They had Mega-Evolved as soon as Viola had started her barrage on the Giant Rock from the Water. From there, Korrina had allowed Lucario to take its time forming really large, potent spheres that could make it the distance across the river.

"Another!"

Now they were quicker in succession, and Korrina was grateful for having been able to max out Lucario's Sword Dances. Its Aura Spheres were probably the strongest Attacks making it to the Giant Rock, hopefully delaying it at least the slightest bit.

Still, she had never felt so powerless. She was out of her rollerblades for once and that had her feeling unsteady enough as it was. But she was watching the Giant Rock barrel towards all of them and all she could do was tell her Pokémon to form the Attacks it was already forming. She hated it. She wanted to skate out onto the ice that Abomasnow had created and push the Giant Rock back herself. But she couldn't. All she could do was stand there listening to the splashing water and all the Trainers around her shouting Attacks.

"Another!" she and Ramos both shouted again.

All the Gym Leaders had gotten the chance to talk together whilst preparing for the Giant Rock to come into range and everyone had agreed on their strategies. Charlene had managed to bring up news footage of the Giant Rock so they could see better what they were up against. Ramos had released his Jumpluff and Weepinbell in addition to his Gogoat and they all were sending Grass Knots at the paddling vines at the bottom of the Rock, trying to tie them together. Most seemed to snap rather quickly, but a few vines tangled together or slowed down due to the Attacks, which was only helping their cause. Even just throwing off their rhythm a tad was worth it, as far as Korrina was concerned. It also helped that both Weepinbell and Jumpluff could get a little closer to the action than Gogoat.

So, as the two of them kept shouting, growing hoarse as the word "another" left their lips time and time again, Korrina glanced at the rest of the Battle.

Korrina knew that, like herself, Valerie was constantly underestimated as a Gym Leader. Valerie was beautiful and an ex-model as well as a fashion designer. But underneath the elaborate clothes and perfectly painted lips was an impressive Trainer. Valerie had released her Spritzee and Mr. Mime and was commanding them and her Sylveon all at the same time. Unlike Ramos, who was mostly using the same one move, Valerie was using her Pokémon's full repertoires, or at least all of their Special moves.

"Dazzling Gleam, Mr. Mime! Spritzee, Gyro Ball!" Valerie shouted. Her Sylveon just finished its own Dazzling Gleam as Valerie called out, "Fairy Wind, Sylveon!"

People's strategies were changing as the Rock grew closer. Korrina knew that the Rock's current label of 'dangerously close' would officially change to 'mortally close' once Valerie could have her Sylveon use Giga Impact on it. Hopefully it wouldn't come to that.

Meanwhile, Grant's showing was especially impressive. Aurorus had only just evolved, but both it and Grant were showing mastery over the Pokémon's new skills. It was firing Aurora Beams and Ancient Powers alternatingly at the Rock. Korrina could only presume that this was an effort to weaken sections structurally and then try and smash them. A few Aurora Beams were shot at the water as well to freeze it and some of the vines as well.

That was Wulfric's strategy as well. His Mega-Abomasnow was targeting Blizzard after Blizzard at the vines paddling through the water. Korrina had never seen Blizzard hit time and time again with such accuracy before. Usually the move only had seventy percent accuracy—barely two times in three. But it was hitting full force every time now. Perhaps it was the size of the target. Or the fact that it was on a clear course in a straight line to the sundial, not bobbing and weaving like most Pokémon do in Battle. But if Korrina had hope that anything was slowing the Giant Rock down, it was that.

"Giga Impact!" Korrina heard Valerie call.

Sylveon was suddenly running toward the Giant Rock at top speed, hitting the ice on the water and then taking a huge leap in the air before it smashed into the Rock with a force even Korrina could hear. Sylveon dropped to the ground and fell back as the Rock kept crunching through the ice. Korrina wasn't sure that the powerful move had done anything to slow down the Rock's progression. But as Valerie's coal-black eyes stared between the Rock and Sylveon, waiting for her Pokémon to recover enough to use the Attack again, Korrina knew Valerie had made the right call.

Whatever they'd been holding back needed to be unleashed _now_. The problem was, Korrina didn't know what more she and Lucario had in them. They'd been giving their all this whole time. What more was there to give?

"Aura Sphere again!" Korrina called again, her voice ragged with desperation. "Again, again, again!"

Suddenly, Korrina saw something huge and black come flying through the air. Instinctively, she ducked, thinking the Rock had started firing projectiles at them. The ridiculous thought that her helmet might protect her entered her mind for only a second. But what landed next to them wasn't a bolder at all, but a handful of people, and then the black blur flew back into the air. Korrina watched as Viola, too, and all the Pokémon who had ventured onto the ice were pushed back to land, then her gaze flickered to the new people and Pokémon next to her. She suddenly realized that she recognized almost all of them.

It was the Champion, Diantha. Professor Sycamore. And Ash and his friends. And all of their Pokémon, most of whom looking rather exhausted. In fact, all the humans did as well. But they weren't looking at her, or any of the other Gym Leaders.

No, their eyes were on the sky.

* * *

"Sneaky bastard. Hid your last forme from us, did you?" Xerosic murmured under his breath as Jessie began all but shouting to the camera.

"Just as the Giant Rock has come within literal meters of the sundial, a giant creature has appeared out of nowhere."

"I tink it's Zygarde!"

It definitely was Zygarde. While Jessie, Meowth, and James had been focusing on the big picture, Xerosic had noticed all the telltale green beams that had flocked to the Giant Rock just moments before. It was more than he'd ever seen before; more than he'd known existed. Xerosic had been trying to get a count of how many cells Zygarde needed to build its different formes, but now he knew it was more than he'd ever imagined.

"Zoom in on it, Meowth," Jessie commanded as she picked up the other camera to snap pictures of her own. "I think you're right!"

By now, Xerosic knew that, usually, Jessie would care if someone interrupted her whilst on camera. The three were obviously trying to do a good thing, but after his time with Malva, and Lysandre, for that matter, Xerosic could spot vanity a mile away. It was ironic, because vanity was a huge part of all that Lysandre had stood against, but the man couldn't help it—he had ego. But now, Jessie didn't seem to care at all that Meowth had interrupted her. She continued easily.

"It has the same coloring as the Zygarde we saw atop Prism Tower hours ago," she observed. "It's hard to make out in the dark, but it's nearly all black with spots of mostly lime green, and a bit of white, red, and blue. It's not as big as the Giant Rock, but still truly enormous. It seems to have more of a human shape, but with large ribbons coming off of what would be the shoulders. It's flying over towards the sundial…and now back to the Rock."

Xerosic watched, rapt as Zygarde, able to float airborne in its newest form, stood in the air across from the Giant Rock. A huge maw yawned open from its chest and sent out a blast of energy that knocked the Giant Rock back across the river and into the land on the other side. A small tidal wave formed, splashing the Rock further into the bedrock.

Jessie had spent the last ten minutes or so describing the Gym Leader's efforts. Xerosic knew that six out of eight Leaders had just been putting all of their strength into pushing the Rock back, slowing its advances to next to no avail. But in one move, Zygarde had tossed it across the river. He could feel that not-so-old impulse bubbling in him to capture the Pokémon in its small, helpless state and observe it. And if the current circumstances weren't rendering that impossible, he wasn't sure he would have been able to fight it off.

The Giant Rock wasn't stopped, though. Its spindly vines were attempting to pull it out of the dent it had formed in the land on the west side of the river and back into the water. But Zygarde had another move in its arsenal. It flew directly above the Rock now and, in an instant, had opened the mouth on its chest again, another multi-colored beam forming. And in a couple jagged strokes, it had drawn a sharp zigzag into the land and straight across the Giant Rock. A lightning bolt. A Z.

And then there was an explosion.


	13. Embracing

There was a crash outside the Anistar City hospital that no one needed a profound sensory ability to hear. But as everyone in the corridor began to panic, Olympia took a deep breath. Perhaps her first one since she'd first prophesized the deep green eye, the green flames.

Everything would be fine now.

It was over.

* * *

Everyone watched as the beam sliced through the Rock with the precision of a laser. For a second, Ash thought that would be it. The Rock was sliced into two pieces and that would somehow…kill it? He didn't quite know, but he had enough faith in Zygarde to be sure that would be enough.

Then, after the first moment of pure silence all day, the world cracked open.

Ash had heard many an explosion in his day. Especially in this last year with Clemont. Large electronic devices were exploding dangerously close to his person on no less than a weekly basis. But the great aural blast the sound of the Giant Rock exploding produced was different. Half of the Rock smashed against hard earth, and the other crashed into the river, both sounds exceptionally loud. Ash's hands flew to his ears and then Misty's hand wrapped around his arm, and began dragging him away. Everyone, it seemed, was sprinting away from the Rock.

When he brought his hands down to run better, he heard two words: "Tidal wave!"

They were able to make it to the end of the dock before Ash felt himself being doused by a huge wave. He was barely able to remain standing for it and, just in front of him, he saw Pikachu being swept away. He shouted his starter's name and sloshed through the water to try and grab him. Grant, however, was quicker.

"Got him!" Grant shouted behind to Ash, bending over and scooping up Pikachu before he was carried too far by the current.

Meanwhile, everyone else was slowing down. When Ash looked back at the water, he saw that the river was still roiling, like the shore on a particularly choppy day, but it was dissipating. While more waves were still licking the street past the boardwalk, none of them would be reaching above the group's ankles. As Ash flicked some of the water off his arms, he made eye contact with Misty. And then, abruptly, they laughed.

Soon, everyone else was too. Seven out of eight of the region's Gym Leaders, two champions, and the two top-ranked competitive Battlers in Kalos and their friends stood soggy, exhausted, and laughing until they cried at Anistar's city limits.

Grant walked over to Ash and handed over his Pikachu. Pikachu crawled gratefully onto Ash's shoulder and the two looked at each other, only causing Ash to laugh harder. Pikachu shook off, sending a little electric shock through his body to zap off the rest of the water.

Viola, who had still been in the sky when Zygarde's Attack hit, landed with a splash right beside them and ran right to Grant. The two embraced as Viola's Vivillon attached itself to her back like a child's fairy wings.

Greninja, the only one of the lot of them comfortable in the soaking state they were all in, approached Ash carefully. Ash's laughter slowly dissipated as Greninja came to stand across from him. Then, Greninja reached out a hand and, with a smile, Ash took it.

"Thanks, buddy," he said. "We did it."

Greninja gave a sharp nod and a croak of its name in return.

All around them, the Gym Leaders were beginning to return their Pokémon. One by one, all of the Pokémon he'd battled on his journey to get to where he'd been at the League today were called back, leaving the Leaders' verbal affirmations and smiling faces. Soon, the only ones still out were Greninja, Pikachu, Dedenne, and Chespie.

As everyone began to settle down a bit—people pulled out of embraces, the laughter petered down—Ash couldn't help but notice Zygarde flying over to them. It landed abruptly in the first spot that was big enough to fit its enormous final forme. Its landing sent the water around Ash's ankles splashing, almost like he was standing on the shore of a beach, the waves lapping at his feet.

Bonnie ran over to it, and it seemed that was exactly what Zygarde wanted. It reached one of its ribbon-like tendrils to her and placed it on the top of her head. Bonnie's head bent down, as though accepting the gesture. And then, the world turned green.

Zygarde in all its glory, in its greatest forme, shattered, breaking into a thousand pieces that then flew. Some over the river, some over the buildings of Anistar, scattering all over the region like they'd been before. In a moment, all that was left were Squishy and the other Zygarde. They were both waist-deep in the water, and Bonnie leaned over to scoop them up, then hugged them both to her chest.

"Thank you. Thank both of you. I'm so glad you changed your mind."

Bonnie was crying and when Ash looked around, he realized she wasn't the only one. Mairin was sobbing, one arm around Chespie and the other wiping tears from under her eyes as she leaned up against Alain. Even Clemont and Meyer were both sniffling and wiping their eyes.

Ash looked down at Misty, who had decided to sit cross-legged in the water as they'd all been laughing. He smiled mirthfully again and lent her a hand to help her back up. She was now the wettest of any of them, but Ash was sure she was perfectly comfortable that way. She was almost as natural in water as Greninja. As they dropped hands, Pikachu leapt from Ash's shoulder into Misty's arms, where he nuzzled against her neck.

"We couldn't have done it without you, you know," Ash said as he looked on at the two of them fondly.

Misty matched his smile. "I think there's a universe that you did."

"Well, in this one, we needed you," Ash said in earnest. "Or at least I did."

"I needed you too," Misty said vaguely, in a way Ash didn't quite understand. "That's why I came."

Suddenly, Ash remembered what she'd said to Sycamore, and a strange feeling overcame him. He didn't think about it for very long before he blurted, "What did you mean when you told the Professor you told me you loved me?"

It was hard to tell in the dark, but Ash swore he saw Misty's face redden as she averted her gaze down at Pikachu. "I meant… _that_ ," she mumbled.

"But what does that _mean_?"

"Come on, Ash," she urged, "let's not do this."

"Misty, the world just almost ended," Ash stated. "Like, five minutes ago. If that were happening right now instead of five minutes ago, wouldn't you want to, I don't know…"

"Leave nothing unsaid?"

Ash shrugged. "Yeah."

"Is that what you would have done?"

Ash considered it for a moment, then said, "I think I do that all the time. I always tell people what I want to tell them."

Misty looked crestfallen. "Right."

"And don't you love it when I do that?" Ash asked playfully, nudging her in the ribs.

Misty couldn't help but smile a bit. "I do like seeing you stumble over your words before you think them through."

"There you go!" Ash said. "Do that!"

She didn't respond for a second, and Ash thought maybe she'd decide not to. But then she started talking.

"Bonnie tried telling you she loved you first," she began. "And I think that would have worked. I mean, I don't really know her, but I imagine she loves you in the way that a child loves their friends. She probably just needed to try long enough. Or hard enough? But then she left me with you and ran off to try with Greninja."

Ash nodded, making no moves to interrupt. He'd missed more of the action that day than anyone and was desperate to know what had happened while he'd been out of it.

"And, like I told Sycamore, I had to tell you over and over again, because it wasn't enough. I told you that Brock and I loved you. We were all best friends, how much that meant—nothing. And it probably did nothing not because it wasn't true, but because it wasn't the whole truth."

When it seemed she'd clammed up again, Ash prompted, "What was?"

"…The truth was…I love being one of your best friends. You being my best friend. And I love it so much that I've been content with that. And I'm content with it right now. But that's not the only thing you've been to me for a long time. It's the primary thing, because it's all I've really allowed. But underneath that…the truth that was loud enough to wake you up is that I love you as more than just a best friend."

She looked up at him. As uneven as her words had been, she was meeting his eyes without fear. It brought back feelings of her daring him to say something stupid with the knowledge that she would smack him if he did. He didn't think a beating was on the other end of this look, though. It would be a surprise, at least.

"I didn't know that," he responded.

Then, of course, Misty swatted him on the arm. Lightly, but still. "That's because I never told you!" she exclaimed.

"Hey!" Ash shouted, pulling back his arm. "Aren't you supposed to not hit the people you love?"

" _Ash_!" Misty cried, half whining, half just exasperated. "This is serious for me. Please. Say something."

"Right, I'm sorry. I, um…"

Suddenly he had greater sympathy for Misty. He'd thought she'd been pausing so much just because she didn't want to say all that, but now he found himself swimming in a soup of feelings that he didn't have the words for. But she'd tried for him, so it was the least he could do to do the same.

"I could see how close we were to the sundial when that vine was holding me up," he started, feeling the ache in his ribs. "And that was what made it real for me that we all might die. I guess I've been in near-death situations before but usually I can't see it coming at me like that. And, I mean, I was thinking about wanting to stop all that and save everyone, but…I was also thinking about how long it had been since I'd talked to you. And I was really mad at myself for that."

He was looking down at his forearms, tracing the bandages Clemont had so kindly put on.

"It's like, I know that I've been following my dreams, and I don't regret that. I mean, I came in second in the Lumiose Conference today and that felt incredible…while it lasted. But, you know, I'm not ten anymore. But I've just been thinking about this one thing of being a Pokémon Master since then and, I don't know, maybe I need to be thinking of more things."

"And here I thought Ash Ketchum wasn't capable of thinking of more than one thing."

Ash glared at Misty, who looked like she was trying to suppress how self-satisfied she was with that one.

"I'm sorry, it was right there. Please, go on."

For a moment, Ash wasn't going to, just to spite her, but then he realized that he had to get this out. He had to say everything now before the adrenaline wore off altogether and they went to sleep that night without having lain it all on the line and Misty went home and things returned to normal.

"I want to see you. I want to see you and Brock and mom and all of my Pokémon at Professor Oak's and everybody else. I want to be able to do that and become a Pokémon Master. Maybe they don't even have to be two different things."

"That's great, Ash," Misty said, looking a little tired. "And forgive me if you don't have anything to say to this, but I told you something about my heart. And I'd like to know if you have anything to say back."

Ash took his hat off and pushed his fingers through his hair. They came back glistening with sweat. "I know, I know. I—I was getting to that. I…Look. If you had been the one under the mind control and I was the one that had to wake you up, I think I would have done it. I think what I feel for you is at least as strong as what Bonnie feels for Squishy but—and I see that face, there is a but—but it's not the same. What I feel—what I'm feeling right now isn't the same as what I feel for Pikachu. And I—"

Abruptly, Ash grabbed Misty's hand, and Pikachu leapt to the ground, looking up at the two of them. Her hand was cold and clammy and his fingerless glove was soaked through with sweat. It shouldn't have felt pleasant, but it did.

"I don't really know how to say the things that I think people are supposed to say here. The things that you probably want me to say, since I know you like all that romantic stuff. But I would have woken you up. I _know_ I would have."

"Ash…" Misty said, blinking a few times as she stared into his eyes. Then she fell into his arms, her chin finding his shoulder. Their clothes were sticky with perspiration and they couldn't hold each other too tightly, careful to mind Ash's ribs and arms, but none of that mattered as Misty said, "That's all you need to say."

* * *

Serena was staring as Ash and Misty talked to each other like they were in their own little world. She wondered if they'd been like that ever since Ash had woken up. How many hours might they have been like that together? How many years in between the time when Serena had first met Ash and when he'd come to Kalos? How much time had she missed?

She didn't notice when Clemont came up beside her. "Hey, you okay?" he asked quietly.

"You know, out of all the things I've done today," she started, her words slow and detached, "I think telling her to tell everyone what she told me was the hardest."

"I thought it was really brave."

Serena wasn't sure if she was surprised that Clemont knew what she was talking about. Perhaps she was simply too exhausted to feel as sharp an emotion as surprise. Maybe all her surprise for the day had been used up. Maybe for the year.

"It wasn't brave," Serena said with a shake of her head. "What choice did I have?"

"Doing something when you don't want to do it is brave," Clemont defended. "You know, what I've always admired about Ash is that it's always easy for him to dive straight into doing the right thing. Same with Bonnie. It's always the only option to cross their minds. But for the rest of us, it's often a choice we don't want to make. But I'm coming to think that's even braver than what Ash does."

"What does Ash do then?"

"Ash is the hero," Clemont said with a smile. "Not particularly brave, just a hero."

" _Just_ a hero," Serena quoted with the tiniest of laughs. "Well, if he's _just_ a hero, then I guess I feel better."

She didn't really, though, and Clemont seemed to know that. "Hey. She knows him, but we know him too. She may love him, but you have no idea what's coming. I bet Ash doesn't either."

That had Serena chuckling a little more. "He probably doesn't. But…if it doesn't happen with her, then I don't think it'll happen with me."

"Why's that, Serena?"

"Well," Serena started, her throat tightening. As though she needed it to be any harder to get the words out. "If he likes her, then he goes with her. If he doesn't, then I don't think he likes me either. In all this time…I know I haven't been obvious to him because I've tried not to be. I mean, obviously you caught on, but Ash is Ash, right? But even still, for what I have given him, he hasn't given me back. He doesn't like me like that. Maybe he could. But if he could, he could also like her."

Clemont's brow furrowed like when an experiment wasn't going right or when Bonnie or Ash said something particularly nonsensical. "I'm not sure I get it. Why would he be more likely to like her than you? You're great, Serena, and Ash knows that."

"I know, I know," Serena said, covering her face. "I'm not just jealous, okay? Just, ugh! He's realizing something right now. Look at him. He's realized that someone has feelings for him. And that's her, not me. And forever, the person that's opened this up for him is going to be her, not me."

"You can still tell him," Clemont offered.

Serena shook her head. "Not now."

"I don't understand."

"I don't think you will," Serena said plainly. "But with the end of the world facing us, I still didn't tell him, and I think that means something. I don't regret it."

"Well, as long as you don't think you'll regret it," Clemont said, looking at her uncertainly.

"Maybe I'll tell him someday in the far off future. The future that now we have again. And then it'll just be a funny story instead of the way I feel," Serena said, wiping away one renegade tear. "But it's okay, Clemont! I've lived with this for a long time. It's always been a fantasy that's out of reach, even after I found him again. And, in a way, it's better that way. It never would have been the same as that, and that would have been hard. I'm happy that it can live pure and happy in my mind. And…if this works out for them, then I can finally move on."

Somehow, Serena found herself smiling.

"I think that would be pretty wonderful, right, Clemont?"

Clemont nodded. "I think so."

They stood quietly then, watching the continuing exchange between Ash and Misty until they heard a gruff voice clearing behind them. They both turned around to see Meyer looking at them.

"Hey, kids," he started awkwardly before turning to Clemont in particular. "Clemont, I'd like to speak with you."

* * *

Meyer had never been the type of dad to angrily call Clemont or Bonnie in for a firm talking to. Even when they'd all lived together, before Clemont had gone away to school or had the Gymship, Meyer had been a pretty hands-off parent. He knew that, and so he could feel the awkwardness radiating off of him and his son as he ushered them away from Serena.

"What is it, dad?" Clemont asked uncertainly.

"It's nothing bad, son," Meyer said first, hoping to wipe away the anxieties that seemed to be marking Clemont's face. Then he sighed. It _was_ hard even if he hoped it would be good for his son. "I wanted to say that I'm sorry."

Clemont looked taken aback. "For what?"

Meyer ran his hands through his hair and grimaced. His scalp was wet with sweat. He wasn't used to not wearing a hat either, so it was especially uncomfortable. "When your mother passed, I wanted to be the best parent for you and Bonnie. Bonnie wasn't going to remember much of anything else. But this last year, at the very least, if not before, you've been more of a parent to her than I have. And to yourself."

"Oh, dad," Clemont said, brushing it off. "That's just the way things go. Kids go on adventures when they're young and they learn on the road and from their friends. I mean, Bonnie and I have learned more from Ash than you could possibly imagine. And Serena."

"I know that. I did the same thing. But—" and then Meyer lost control over his voice. It was suddenly tight and crackly and he felt like he was his son's age again. Maybe even younger. "I wasn't there for you today. You were home, and I was here, and I couldn't do anything to protect you. I didn't even know if you kids were alive when Prism Tower went down."

"I know," Clemont said, his voice low and comforting. "We were all just doing what we had to do today, dad. And, really…I'd like to apologize."

"What are you talking about?"

"If things had gone differently today…" Clemont started, looking tellingly at the sundial. "The last things I would have said to you would have been really hurtful."

"Oh." Meyer shook his head. "Clemont, I—you had every right to be angry with me."

Meyer watched as Clemont went more inside himself than he was out in the world. It was the strangest thing that he'd observed in his son since he was young. Anytime he was working on a problem that wasn't on paper or in his hand, his eyes were still looking outward, but it was like they were turned back into his brain. As if he could see his thoughts more than the eyes of the person in front of him.

"I think today brought out the best in a lot of people. Mairin fought her anxiety to get Chespie back and trusted Alain enough to do the job while she held back to help the rest of the team. Serena was supporting Mairin every step of the way. Ash is always at his best in times of trouble. Steven and Ash's friend Misty both came a long way just to help. We watched Xerosic and Malva both turn away from Team Flare and join the good side. Meanwhile, I lashed out at my dad and worried over my inventions being destroyed in order to take down the Mega-Evolution ray. I held people back because I'm the slowest of the group and made morally questionable decisions when using Pokémon to attack other humans."

Meyer could see Clemont getting carried away, his breathing growing heavier with every admission. So he put both hands on his son's shoulders and forced his eyes to come back. To make contact with his own. As he stared, he saw Clemont coming back, his breathing relaxing once again.

"Son, we all made hard decisions today. I chose to stay with Diantha and Zygarde when she teleported me away from the Gym. And while I hated that…I can't say I regret it either. Someone had to be with Zygarde, and I was there."

"That was the right thing to do, dad. Really, it was."

Meyer shook his head. "It's easy to say that now. Now that you both are alive and miraculously in one piece. But if you or Bonnie had been there, hurt, and my being there to bring you to safety could have saved your life? I never would have forgiven myself."

"I get that," Clemont said. "I just need you to know that you're a good dad. You always have been. Bonnie and I are so different…it can't be easy to have to try and understand both of us. It's like having to be two different dads."

Meyer laughed. It was small but filled his whole chest with how foreign and wonderful it felt. "You're right about that, kid. But it's the best."

"Well," Clemont started, looking up at Meyer shyly. "Hopefully we'll be able to do a lot more of being two kids and our dad. I'm guessing we'll have to be in Lumiose for quite a while to rebuild."

"Our own little adventure at home," Meyer said.

It occurred to Meyer for the first time that he didn't even know if they had a home to come back to. He'd seen firsthand all the destruction in Lumiose, how many homes, buildings and other businesses had been completely ravaged by the vines. He hadn't seen his own home since that morning; who knew if it was still standing. He wasn't even sure if they'd be allowed back in the city tomorrow. But he knew one thing: they'd be sleeping soundly in Anistar tonight.

* * *

"I just can't thank you all enough," Charlene said to the general clump that the Gym Leaders had stayed in. "I only have one Pokémon…there's nothing I could have done myself and I'm so grateful that you all showed up."

Viola and Grant were embracing each other and the rest were chattering to each other, talk of miracles and Legendaries leaving their lips. But, somehow, they all turned to Charlene when she spoke.

"Well, we had to," Korrina said simply. "We're meant to protect the region and this was the place to do it."

"I agree," Ramos said. "I had to boogie on over here as quick as I could, but I'm mighty glad I made it in time."

"We're just glad we got Diantha's message," Valerie added.

"And I'm just glad that I got _Charlene's_ messages."

Diantha approached the group looking tired but enormously grateful. Charlene had rarely seen the Champion in person—usually the Gym Leaders went to her, not the other way around—but she could see the wear of the day all over Diantha's body. Her makeup was smudged, more eyeshadow and liner below her eyes than above and her ordinarily pure white outfit was now varying shades of gray and brown. Everyone looked that way, but seeing the damage of the day marring the Champion, Kalos' symbol of excellence and beauty—well, that was another matter entirely than a little smudged mascara on a Gym Trainer.

"Madam Champion," Charlene said, humbled in her presence.

Diantha blinked slowly, seemingly unimpressed by the honorific. Then she smiled. Not the big one she used on the screen when something wonderful happened to one of the many characters she'd inhabited, but a small one. One that, despite the weight the world had borne on it today, still rose. "We all owe Charlene a great many thanks today."

Charlene blushed. She'd called all of the Gym Leaders' eyes to her when she'd begun speaking in order to thank them, but it was different when they were all looking at her as the woman the Champion was crediting.

"She's the one who informed me and all of us about the sundial. And who knows where we'd be without that information. Zygarde was able to stop the Giant Rock in the nick of time only thanks to you all being here to slow it down. The world is in your gratitude."

That time the thanks went to everyone around, and Charlene was better able to cope with that. Grateful as she was for Diantha's appreciation, she saw the opportunity to change the subject and took it. "Yes, and I understand if you all want to return to your homes tonight, but I wanted to offer the Anistar Gym for respite if anyone wanted to skip the long journey for tonight."

"That would be wonderful," Grant said, the first to take her up on the offer, though Korrina nodded eagerly as well. Charlene had had a feeling they would be the two most eager to stay, as they lived in Coastal Kalos on the far-western side of the region.

"It would be nice to stay together close to Lumiose," Diantha said. "I suspect we'll be spending a lot of time there."

"We're here for whatever you need us for, Diantha!" Korrina said.

Charlene approached Diantha, a key in her hand. "This is the key to the Gym."

"You're not coming?" Diantha asked. "Oh, are you going home?"

"No," Charlene shook her head. "I'm going to the hospital to check on Olympia. To tell her the good news."

"Well, if I know Olympia," Wulfric said, smiling, "she already knows."

* * *

"Mairin?"

Professor Sycamore hesitantly approached Mairin, who was still clinging to Alain. It was all the professor could do not to smile; seeing Alain with Mairin was a unique thing. When he'd first learned that Alain and Mairin were friends, he'd been surprised. Even as his assistant, Alain had always been serious. Back then, Mairin had been anything but. He'd been curious to see what someone like Mairin might bring out in him and now, finally, he was able to.

"Hmm? Professor?"

Mairin pulled away from Alain and, still cradling Chespie in her arms, looked up at the Professor and Steven next to him.

"Do you mind if I take a look at Chespie?"

Mairin looked down at her still-sleeping Pokémon, looking hesitant. Professor Sycamore could understand. She'd only just gotten Chespie back after it had been taken from her. And, truly, Chespie had been gone a lot longer than that. Of course she wouldn't want to hand him over to someone else right away. Especially after what had happened the last time she'd entrusted Chespie to someone else's care. Still, she looked back up at Professor Sycamore and nodded, raising Chespie up to him. Sycamore took it carefully, like transferring a baby.

Professor Sycamore was suddenly reminded of that moment so many months ago when he'd first seen Chespie at Lysandre Labs. Chespie had just been looked at by a Nurse Joy who'd never seen anything like it before while he, Steven, and Mairin stood helpless on the other side of the glass, Lysandre's sweet platitudes there to assuage them. Now, Lysandre was gone and he was able to hold Chespie in his hands, and really try to get a sense of what was going on.

"It's not glowing anymore," he said faintly, his eyes widening at the realization.

"You're right, Professor," Steven said, leaning in closer. "It was definitely glowing before merging with the Giant Rock, but it hasn't been ever since Alain rescued it."

The professor didn't have to think for long before coming up with a hypothesis. "The Giant Rock must have leached all of the Mega-Evolution energy out of it. Chespie was just the trigger and then the Rock was able to sap all that energy, plus whatever our Pokémon and the sundial produced."

"So what does that mean for Chespie?" Alain asked.

Professor Sycamore looked at Steven, wondering if he was thinking the same thing. But, as there was no way to tell, he carried on. "I think…we need to visit Nurse Joy. There's a chance that Chespie might be fine if it just gets some general first aid."

"I agree," Steven concurred. "I can't imagine that anything other than the excess Mega-Evolution energy caused the coma. Seeing as it's gone, Chespie probably just needs to be healed now."

"Wow, that's such amazing news!" Mairin exclaimed, a fresh wave of tears coming over her.

"Don't get your hopes up too high," Alain said gently. "It's just a theory."

"That's right, Mairin," Steven said. "There still might be more work to be done. Remember, Chespie's been in a coma for months. Even if it does wake up, there's going to be a long way for it to go. Its muscles, for one, are going to be a lot weaker than they were before."

"You mean atrophied?" Mairin asked, suddenly looking nervous again.

Steven nodded soberly. "I think that's the least we can expect."

Mairin looked at him, sad but open. "That's fine. As long as Chespie wakes up, we'll be able to overcome anything else."

"And we'll be right there with you, Mairin," Professor Sycamore said. "We want to see Chespie recover too."

"Right, well…" One more tear escaped out the side of Mairin's eye, and she looked up at all three men. "I can't thank you all enough. Alain, for saving Chespie, and everyone for all that they've done for us. We can't thank you enough."

"Oh, Mairin, please…" Alain started. "This never would have happened if it weren't—"

Then, out of nowhere, Mairin smacked him on the arm. "Oh, you! Don't you start with that. This has never been your fault, Alain. _Nothing_ , okay? Nothing."

Alain stared at her, tight-lipped. He wasn't going to say anything, but Professor Sycamore could see the words that were still sitting on his tongue. _It_ is _my fault. Blame me. Don't lie to me._

"Alain," Professor Sycamore said, putting a hand on the boy's shoulder, "you should think about talking to someone. You too, Mairin. You both have been through a lot in the past year, and you've been handling it for too long on your own. Perhaps some counseling would help."

"I don't think that's neces—" Alain began just as Mairin said, "I think that might be a good idea, Professor."

Sycamore looked between the two, unable to tamper the smile that rose once again to his face. "Well, you both think about it. I'm going to. I think a lot of people might want to after this."

"Yes, there's never any shame in talking about what's bothering you," Steven said. "And we should start by talking to the ones we love."

Professor Sycamore knew that he didn't miss Alain's brief glance toward Mairin, and then unsteady eye contact back with himself and Steven. Finally, Alain said, "Yes. I suppose I'll think about it."

* * *

As everyone was getting used to the new quiet of the river moving like normal and the city safe and at peace, the sound of a helicopter above them came ripping through the night. It landed close enough by that Ash had to grab the bill of his hat to keep it on his head. He put his other hand behind Pikachu to keep the Pokémon from having to dig his claws into Ash's shoulder.

As soon as the helicopter landed and, presumably, was turned off, three bodies came tumbling out of the vehicle and ran towards Ash. "Twerp!" they all yelled.

The next thing Ash knew, he was tackled on three sides by the members of Team Rocket, all wrapping their arms around him and sobbing melodramatically.

"You did it, twerp!"

"I can't believe you're alive!"

"Ya pulled it off, twerp!"

Ash wasn't quite sure what to do with himself. His arms were raised up like strange wings and Pikachu jumped back to the top of his head. He could feel his buddy's cheeks sparking. It was making his hair tingly.

"Shh, it's okay, Pikachu," he said quietly.

Reluctantly, the Electric mouse simmered down, but Ash couldn't miss the grunted, "Ka chu," that escaped his mouth.

"You saved the world, twerp," Jessie said, looking into his bewildered eyes with her own watery ones.

"Oh, heh, it wasn't really me," he said awkwardly as the three still managed not to pull away. "It was everyone. If anything, you should be thanking Zygarde."

"Nah, it's always you, twerp," Meowth insisted. "Da world always gets saved when you're around."

"Oh, well…sure. Thanks, guys. Now…"

Ash gave them all a look which he hoped would unwrap them from his middle, but the group was loath to do it. Finally, Ash heard a sigh behind him and Misty came around and began gently pushing Jessie, then James, then Meowth off of him.

"Sorry, it's just hard not to get emotional when we all could have met our end, you know?" James said, wiping beneath his eyes.

"We know," Misty said patiently. "It's good to see you guys on the good side in moments like this."

"Well, it's exciting to have ya back," Meowth said before turning to his cohorts. "It's been years since we've seen da redheaded twerp, ain't it?"

"Can't stay away?" Jessie said suggestively, elbowing Misty in the ribs. Misty was having none of it, however, and pushed the older woman away. Ash couldn't help but smile to himself, fighting off a blush now that he knew the truth to Jessie's words.

Mercifully, just then a new voice came in saying, "Well, well, well."

Xerosic was coming in behind them, staring at a vehicle on the road coming their way. It was a police motorbike and, for a second, Ash thought an Officer Jenny was coming to…well, he didn't know. Check on their group? Arrest someone? Team Rocket seemed to have the same fear, as they instantly tensed up and hid behind Ash, Misty, and Pikachu.

Their worries were for nothing, though, because when the figure took its helmet off, it was none other than Malva, shaking out her pink hair and looking at the lot of them over her glasses. Then, without a word, she went over to the sidecar and lifted a large canister of…something.

"Look who decided to show up," Xerosic commented as Malva was prepared to breeze right past him. However, she turned on his heel and stared him down.

"Lick my ass, Xerosic," Malva said before continuing.

"Wait, how'd you get here?" Ash asked.

Misty followed up with, "Who's watching those girls?"

Malva looked at Misty and shrugged. "I did what everyone wants to do with their dependents. Outsource and hire a babysitter. As for your question," Malva turned to Ash, "I made a little stop by the police station. Since Lumiose isn't hospitable—or drivable—the Jenny's had a few motorcycles lying around. And being an Elite means that people don't much mind me seizing things so…seize I did."

"What are you holding, Malva?"

Alain was the one who asked the question. The rest of their group had gravitated nearby, everyone staring at their newest arrival.

"Whatevah it is, I got a bad feelin' 'bout it," Meowth said as he, Jessie, and James continued cowering.

"This, my friend," Malva said, raising the capsule a little higher, "is your pride and joy. The fruit of your labor that you tried so hard to collect is here in this apparently indestructible urn."

"The Mega-Evolution Energy," Alain gasped.

"Well, what's left of it at least. Since these four gobbled so much of it up," Malva replied, thumbing toward Ash, Greninja, and both Zygarde.

"And just what are you planning to do with it, Malva?" Xerosic asked.

"Oh, my dear butterball, something that will likely break your poor, strained heart," Malva answered in a cooing tone. "I'm going to release it."

"What does that mean?" Diantha asked with great trepidation. It was well-warranted, given what had happened last time a member of Team Flare had had an idea like that.

"Well, I suppose I should share, since all the experts that are still alive are here," Malva mused. "I want to make sure that this will do what I want and not, you know, blow up the world that you all just so carefully saved. Thanks for that, by the way."

No one responded; everyone just stared at her blankly at the very least, suspicious at most.

"What do you all think will happen," she focused her eye contact on Sycamore, Steven, and Xerosic especially, "if we give this energy to the sundial?"

Ash immediately gasped. "It'll explode!" he shouted.

Malva looked patronizingly over at Ash. "Oh, hero-baby, you are so not who I was asking. Anyone else? Hmm? Professor?"

Professor Sycamore looked surprised at having been called on like a kid who hadn't raised their hand in class. He looked at Malva and then to Xerosic. "Actually, I'd be more interested to see what he has to say."

Then, Alain leaned over to Professor Sycamore and said under his breath, just loud enough for Ash to hear. "Do you really trust him, Professor? Xerosic was a part of all of this, Malva too. Maybe the two of them have a backup strategy set up and Ash really is right and this will cause some kind of explosion."

A little louder than Alain, the professor replied, "You were a part of this too, Alain, but you have ended up on the right side of history, just like these two. And more than that, regardless of your involvement with Team Flare, I would trust you with my life. So let's see what he has to say."

"Thank you, Professor," Xerosic said. "It's true that I played a large role in the plan to get the Giant Rock to collide with the sundial. I had truly hoped that our plan would never come to that, which is why I worked so hard on the Mega-Evolution ray and researching Zygarde. But, of course, I can understand why I might not be trusted. That said, I'd like to remind everyone that most of our gang here wouldn't have made it to the Giant Rock had it not been for me. So there's that."

"Very self-congratulating, Xerosic," Malva said. Ash was sure she would have been giving him golf-claps if she hadn't still been holding the large canister. "Now tell us: is this thing gonna blow us all up? Remember, if it blows up these guys, it blows up you and me too."

"Right," Xerosic said, returning to the point. "The Giant Rock contains multitudes of Primal Reversion energy, energy that is more compact than Mega-Evolution energy. It has been stored and compounding for thousands of years. Meanwhile, the energy in this capsule is mostly just what Alain collected in the last year, minus all that has already been used. So, by that logic, whatever explosion the Giant Rock would have created would be exponentially larger than what could be created by this measly capsule."

"So there's still going to be an explosion?" Misty asked.

Xerosic raised a finger. "I'm not done, little girl. As you all witnessed with Chespie, there's a strong reaction that occurs when Mega-Evolution energy and Primal Reversion energy meet. It's like combining baking soda and vinegar."

"But this," Sycamore finished, "would only be like combining baking soda and baking soda."

"Or vinegar and vinegar. Arguably, I think the Mega-Evolution energy is the vinegar, but that's neither here nor there."

"Okay," Malva said. "Follow-up question: How do I best hurl this junk into the sundial?"

"Oh, that's easy," Xerosic said, fishing around in his jacket. "That capsule _is_ indestructible. It had to be to contain the energy. But," he pulled a remote out of his pocket, "it had to be open at one point to get the energy in. A press of this button will unlock the hatch. You're gonna want to get right up to the sundial there, dear Malva."

Malva smiled strangely at Xerosic. If Ash had to describe it, he would almost say it was angry. A unique snarling smile that couldn't possibly be pulled off by anyone but Malva. Then Ash glanced at Misty and figured she could perfect it if she tried. She noticed him watching her and tossed him a little smile that made an unfamiliar feeling blossom in his stomach. He smiled back and then brought his gaze back to Malva.

"With pleasure," Malva said.

She then began the walk down the dock, everyone staring at her, barely breathing. Ash wondered to himself why this potential risk even needed to be taken. But then he thought about his lost hours of the day and whatever had happened to him while he'd been under the control of the energy. All the time that had been wasted on saving him instead of the world by Misty, Alain, Malva, Bonnie. And Pikachu, of course. He felt a shiver of fear course through him at the thought of that ever happening to anyone again. And then he wanted the remaining energy gone. Sunk to the bottom of the ocean or shot into space, he didn't care. So long as it couldn't hurt anyone else.

Malva was nearly up to the sundial by then and Xerosic counted off, "Three, two, one," and then pressed the button.

Ash braced for something terrible as the metal end of the capsule popped open. He couldn't help it. Evidently he wasn't alone in his fear, because all three members of Team Rocket proceeded to shriek in fear. But then everyone's attention was fully captured by the energy floating out like a wayward beam of light, traveling softly through the air until it made contact with the sundial. As it did, the sundial came aglow, bursting forth with more pink iridescence than usual, so much so that Ash almost had to look away. He could feel the strain on his eyes, but he couldn't help but bear witness to the beauty of it.

Malva threw an arm up to cover her eyes, straining beneath the weight of the capsule now in only one arm. But, as soon as it was over, she turned towards the group, made eye contact with Xerosic, and then tossed the empty shell into the river.

"Well, that was unnecessary," Xerosic said to himself as Malva began strutting back. Even though she definitely couldn't hear him, she still offered him a shrug and a shit-eating grin.

"I feel like she's me if anyone ever allowed me any power," Jessie mused, to which James and Meowth nodded soberly.

Ash was happy. Now, it finally felt like it was over. He glanced around at the rest of the group, expecting to see the same relief on everyone else's faces. And it was there, from the Gym Leaders to Xerosic himself. Except for Alain. For a moment, Ash thought it was because it had been Alain's labor that had collected all the energy, but then he noticed Alain looking down at the Key Stone on his wrist.

"What is it, Alain?" Ash asked.

"This was given to me by a terrorist. And I have used it in a way he would be proud of. 'Answer my heart.' …I think it's been a long time since my heart has had anything to do with it."

"Alain, you don't mean that," Mairin said.

"I do," Alain said with a confident nod. "We un-Megaed our Pokémon for Zygarde to believe we were good, but what does that mean? Mega-Evolving our Pokémon hurts them. They only do it because they love us. But what kind of love do we show them back if we force pain on them only for greater power?"

"What are you talking about?" Korrina asked, and Ash suddenly remembered that the Gym Leaders hadn't heard any of Professor Sycamore's realizations.

"Zygarde helped us learn that Mega-Evolution is more insidious than it seems," Professor Sycamore said. "I've been thinking about it ever since I first said it. I think that Pokémon have something inside of them. A defense mechanism that keeps them from getting hurt or hurting themselves in battle, which is why they're capable of withstanding so much that humans can't. Mega-Evolution must override that, and Pokémon can do more, but it causes them pain."

"Just think of the changes your Pokémon goes through," Alain spat. "Charizard's wings tear, Houndoom's horns twist, Metagross completely changes alignment. Think about the challenges our Pokémon go through when they evolve once. They have to get used to their new form and struggle to learn how to battle with it. Now think about if they have to do that in the middle of a battle, and change right back when it's done. Or when they get knocked out."

"That's true," Diantha said. "During a Mega-Evolution Battle, my mental connection with Gardevoir becomes about nothing more than fighting. I've never really noticed before, but the rest of our connection is as good as severed in order to strengthen the battling."

"With the extra kick, an ordinarily stubborn Pokémon like Ash's Greninja may never stop fighting," Professor Sycamore continued. "I know the Mega-Evolution ray was a special circumstance, but it says something about the greater power of the mechanism. It's not the way Pokémon were built to battle, certainly not competitively. And in friendly battles, there's no reason why we should be pushing our Pokémon to these kinds of limits."

"I'm gonna do it," Alain said, suddenly beginning to jog, brushing past Malva right as she made her way back to the group.

"Wait—what are you doing?" she asked, a little confused, a little annoyed as Alain nearly bumped into her.

He didn't reply, however, only running faster as he reached into his pocket and pulled out Charizard's PokéBall. He released the Pokémon, and the two of them made their way to the dock.

"I'm going too!" Ash said as he too took off running. Then he winced, holding his ribs, and came back to a stop.

"Maybe take it easy there, Ash," Misty said gently, softly putting a hand to his side.

"Okay, let's all go," Clemont said, coming up behind the other two and walking calmly toward the dock.

The group followed after Alain, who was working to detach Charizard's Mega Stone from its collar—he'd already gotten his Key Stone out. When the little glowing stone finally popped out, he held both in his hand.

"What are you gonna do, Alain?" Mairin asked, coming up closest behind him.

Alain didn't answer. Instead, he placed both stones on the ground, each rolling a little like large marbles. But before they could get too far, Alain raised one booted foot, and crashed it down on both.

There was a gasp throughout the crowd. The act was as strange as taking a diamond or a sheet of gold and destroying it. Key Stones and Mega Stones were prized objects. But as Alain raised his foot, all they could see were pieces like broken glass, blowing in the wind on the pier. There was also a small wisp of energy that, like the stored Mega-Evolution energy had before it, returned to the sundial, and left the pieces of the stone colorless on the ground.

"Charizard and I are going to keep getting stronger the old-fashioned way, right, old friend?" Alain patted Charizard on the neck, where its collar had been, and Charizard snorted contentedly in response.

"You know what? I think you're right, Alain."

Professor Sycamore walked forward with his own Key Stone. He hadn't had it for long, and Ash didn't know if that made it easier or harder to part with it. But Professor Sycamore didn't hesitate before crushing the stone with one good stomp, and letting its energy return back to the source.

"Guess I'll have to go into another specialization, huh?" he said to Alain.

"I think you have a paper to write first, Augustine," Steven said, coming up behind him with his Key Stone in hand. He unceremoniously crunched it under his shoe and smiled at Professor Sycamore.

"That's true. It's going to take a little more research," Professor Sycamore explained, "but hopefully I can mostly use archived video evidence to write the leading research paper demonstrating the harmful effects of Mega-Evolution. Hopefully steps will be taken to bar it from League-sanctioned Battles, but beyond that…"

"We'll just have to see," Steven finished.

Everyone else began releasing their Pokémon and removing their Mega Stones and Key Stones. Diantha, the Gym Leaders, Meyer, even Malva. As she crushed hers she said, "Well, if a good leather boot can do this, I think it's safe to say that Lysandre's didn't survive the fall."

Ash was surprised when Misty let her Gyarados out into the river and took off its Mega Stone—Ash hadn't even known she had one. She smashed her own Stones and then bent down to pick up one of the bigger pieces.

"Hmm, I didn't realize it would be so delicate," she said. "To contain so much power…"

She stared at it for a moment more and then tossed it into the water where it would become nothing more than sea glass.

As everyone was finishing up, Ash turned to Greninja. Greninja wasn't looking at him or anything else that was going on. Its eyes were straight ahead; it almost looked as though it were meditating.

They were the only ones whose connection didn't ride on having two matching rocks. Ash had never owned a Key Stone and, to his knowledge, there wasn't such a thing as a Greninjite or whatever it would be called. Their connection was unique.

"I know that you're mad," Ash said quietly. He felt Pikachu leap off his shoulder and over to Misty, perhaps to give them a moment of privacy.

Greninja had been quiet ever since Zygarde had taken them from the Giant Rock and landed them by the Gym Leaders. And Ash had hoped he was wrong, but now he felt that he knew the reason why.

"I know all you've wanted is to be stronger, and that the Bond Phenomenon was your way of achieving that. But…I think Alain's right and that we shouldn't do it anymore."

Greninja's expression didn't change. If Ash didn't know better, he would have thought the Pokémon was asleep on its feet.

"There are other ways to be strong, Greninja. Ways that don't hurt you. And I'd like to continue to work on those with you…if you want to."

For a moment more, Greninja didn't respond and Ash was afraid that Greninja was saying that it didn't want to train with Ash anymore. That this was the same thing it had encountered with all the Trainers it had rejected as a Froakie before Ash and it would find someone who wasn't afraid of the Bond Phenomenon. But then, it gave the sharpest of nods. If Ash had blinked, he would have missed it. But just that nod was enough for Ash, and a giant grin broke across his face.

"Really, Greninja? Are you sure?"

Eyes still closed, Greninja turned to Ash. It didn't nod again, or speak, but it was all the acknowledgment that Ash needed.

"Okay, Greninja," Ash said with a good-natured laugh. "Let the training start tomorrow. Return."

Without argument, the Pokémon went back in its PokéBall. Then Ash realized he had forgotten to say something. Something he should have said many times over that day already. But it was never too late to start. He brought the 'Ball right up to his lips and whispered, "Thank you."


	14. Epilogue

"Diantha, this really is humiliating for a woman of my influence."

"More humiliating than working with Team Flare?" Diantha's expression held no humor as she bowed to the Officer Jenny who was just leaving the room. "Thank you, Jenny."

"My pleasure, Madam Champion."

As the door closed behind Officer Jenny, Malva stared down Diantha, not just humorless, but loathsome. "I'll be forced to wear nothing but bellbottoms!"

"I'm sorry, Malva. We appreciate the work you're doing, but an ankle bracelet seemed the best thing to do."

"It won't seem so when Xerosic laughs himself to death when I find him."

Diantha sighed. "Malva, look at this from my perspective. You worked with the leader of a terrorist organization. You had a close relationship. Then you were the last person to see his right hand man before he took off on the lam. Your offer to help is valiant, but do you think I can trust you? You were one of my Elites, and look where my trust got me there."

"But surely there's a more fashionable tracking device I could wear? I'm in need of a new pair of sunglasses, after all. Mine seem to have gotten scratched in all the excitement."

Diantha wasn't amused. "Malva, you can take off sunglasses," she deadpanned.

"Oopsie, guess I could."

Leaning forward, Diantha began again, "Look, I appreciate how candid you were in your interrogation these past few days. It was elucidating. But remember, you wear that ankle bracelet and keep up your end of the deal, I keep up mine."

"Yes, I can't wait to brag to all my friends that I won't be dying in prison."

"Malva," Diantha said, as though she was speaking to a trying child. "What else?"

Malva sighed. This was the deal she'd struck. The win to hopefully outshine all the bad choices she'd made these last few years. She thought of Ines and Nathan. They were so young and in real need of rehabilitation, new life skills, not a prison sentence.

"If I help round up all of the Team Flare employees and hunt down Xerosic, then all of the grunts who didn't know about the plan won't go to jail."

"It's a tough one, Malva," Diantha said. "There are a lot of people who want examples made of all of you. They want to see you dragged through the streets. Or at least rotting in jail for life. It's going to be the worst political move I've ever made. But I agree with you that it's the right thing."

The fight had gone out of Malva. Her pride was a terrible beast, but she knew she was the one coming out on top in this deal. If anything went wrong with Malva or any of the other forgiven Flare members, Diantha would be crucified. She might have to step down as Champion at a time when the region couldn't afford any instability.

But more than that, of all the people who wanted Xerosic's head on a silver platter, Malva had the most reason. The night the Giant Rock had been stopped, she'd tried to talk to him. To convince him to take the same road that she had—to do the right thing. He'd flown into the night on his Crobat.

She hadn't given chase. At the time, she'd still needed to talk things out with Diantha. But now she had, and she'd been given permission to find him and hand his ass over to the police. And she had not a doubt in her mind that she could. After all, he'd never known how powerful she truly was.

"I'm pleased that you do," Malva said. If anything, the Kalos Disaster and the days since had given her a bit more respect for the Champion. Respect that she should have had back when she'd been her Elite. Not just any Champion would be so willing to risk their reputation for the sake of the 'right thing.' But Diantha was.

And now Malva was too.

* * *

A bell sounded through the city's center and the workers all looked up from whatever task they'd taken on, most of which consisted of clearing rubble. Clemont's voice came over the new citywide speaker system saying, "Thank you to all of our committed volunteers. It is time for a mandatory shift change. Please be careful as you leave and we hope to see you all tomorrow. Remember, health comes first!"

Shauna stood up first, bending backwards with a satisfying groan. She felt a couple of small clicks in her spine as the vertebrae realigned, and stretched up to the sky to loosen her muscles. All this only to bend over one more time, taking a mask off of her Pokémon's face.

"Alright, Gothita, great job. Let's return."

Gothita gave a pleased coo and willingly went back in its 'Ball. Shauna swung her backpack to her side and dropped the PokéBall along with the compact gas-mask in.

Very few Pokémon had been approved by Professor Sycamore to take part in the rebuilding process in Lumiose. He'd begun a diligent screening process going species by species to approve who could safely work in the dangerous conditions. Many humanoid Pokémon were the first to be approved, as the masks that all people were required to wear didn't need very much adjustment to fit Pokémon like Machoke or Gothita. Gothita just needed a smaller one and she was all set. Then non-corporeal Pokémon like some Ghost Types were approved, as well as many Poison Types whose biologies were well-equipped to handle the toxins in the air. A week in and most Pokémon were still on the waitlist, though, namely the rest of Shauna's.

None of Trevor, Tierno, or Sawyer's Pokémon had been approved yet, so they'd had no hesitations as they'd begun heading back out through the approved exit through town.

Everything was regulated in Lumiose now. The city had been fully evacuated the day after the events with Zygarde and the Giant Rock and no one could enter without permission, and only volunteers were granted such. Residents could enter to try and regain possessions, but only with an official chaperone. That had been the case for the first few days, at least, but now hardly anyone entered for any reason beyond volunteering. Luckily, none of the vines that had gone outside the city had hit inhabited territory, so these rules only went as far as the Lumiose City limits.

There was police tape everywhere, blocking off nearly every street and building. Usually Lumiose was a city with so many cross streets, so many turns to take and get lost in, but no more. Their little group of four walked down the same street that dozens more volunteers were flooding onto, toward the Pokémon Center on South Boulevard, the same one they'd stayed in as they'd watched the news after the fall of Prism Tower.

That Pokémon Center was one of the only large buildings in Lumiose that had suffered nearly no internal damage. No vines had made their way into the building, but they'd had brushes along the outside. Cosmetically, the building was in far worse shape than it had been two weeks prior. But in terms of damage, all that was wrong was a dented roof. It would have to be fixed one day, but it was hardly a priority. Due to the building's size and resources, in addition to continuing its work as a Pokémon hospital, it was also a makeshift soup kitchen for the volunteers.

Before stepping into the building, everyone had to enter a disinfecting vestibule that had been constructed two days into the reconstruction efforts. Diantha and Clemont's primary concern was the health of all the workers, foremost above even the rebuilding of the city. All of the toxic dusts that settled on people's clothes had to be blown off before they could enter the Center, where people would be eating. Clemont had created this prototype through the efforts of one very long all-nighter, and was continuing to work toward its second iteration.

When Shauna took off her mask, she was instantly overtaken by the fresh smell of the room. More than just being clean, it smelled refreshing. That was due to the few Grass Pokémon around the room that had been brought in—Shauna saw the Bayleef in the corner who she had learned Ash had caught when he'd traveled through Johto in the past. It was nice to see that some Pokémon's skills could be used even if they weren't approved to be outside yet.

"Hello, everyone!" Grace, Serena's mom, greeted as the herd of dust-free volunteers began to make their way into the building. "Thanks for all of your work today! Please eat your fill!"

Being teenagers, Shauna and the rest had been encouraged by most of the adults to go first in line. They'd protested for the first couple of days, but after that the song and dance had gotten old. And, well, they were hungry.

"Thanks, Serena," Shauna said gratefully as she took a bowl from Serena and moved down the line to get some tea brewed from the leaves of a Unovan Pansage that Ash also knew.

"How was it out there today?" Serena asked as she continued to make plates from the massive vats of food she, her mom, and the other volunteers had made that day. Her face was flushed from leaning over steaming food all day, but she was smiling, nevertheless. She'd lost her hat and had taken to wearing her hair half-up and half-down to keep some of the short 'do off her neck. Shauna's pigtails had been serving her fine in that way.

"Good," Shauna said after a sip of tea. It was mild and only slightly tinted green, but she felt better already. "My muscles still hurt a lot, but I think I'm getting stronger."

"She is!" Tierno agreed. "She can lift almost as much as me now!"

"Oh, that's not true." Shauna blushed.

"Well, she can lift more than me," Trevor said. "But we're all getting stronger."

"That's good to hear," Serena said. "I think I'd like to help out there eventually, once my ankle heals. Maybe start trading with someone to do kitchen duty sometimes and work outside others."

"Well, we're happy you're here, Serena," Sawyer said. "None more than Tierno."

Tierno had been staring at Serena, perhaps admiring her new hairstyle, if any of his idle talk while they were outside was anything to go off of. But at Sawyer's words, he ripped his gaze away, his eyes wide and innocent as he glanced at Grace, who was smiling at them.

"Because of the food! Obviously, the food!"

"Not to worry, Tierno," Grace said. "Sawyer's wrong. I'm the one who's happiest to see Serena here, ankle brace and all."

"Mom…" Serena groaned with a blush. "There are so many people here."

"I don't care," Grace said, squeezing Serena with one arm and ladling food with the other. "I want everyone to know how proud I am of you."

As Serena rolled her eyes, Shauna grinned at the both of them. "I think it's sweet. You wanted her to be proud of you, and she is."

Grace gave Serena one last squeeze, then mercifully let her go and gestured to keep the line moving. "And I'll never stop."

* * *

When Meyer heard his son's voice over the sound system, he headed from the holding space in Professor Sycamore's lab outside to the pile. One side of the lab had been punctured by a vine the week before, something no one had seemed to notice until the next day. It seemed as though that vine had largely plugged the hole it had made, so the air hadn't become especially contaminated, but it had needed to be removed and the hole covered by a tarp before the lab could be made usable to the public. Or even to the professor.

It was the last shift of outside work for the day. Shifts were two hours long and were only in bright daylight. The whole city still had a haze over it, so as soon as the sun began to set, it was already too dark for Clemont and Diantha to consider it safe. Meyer had the last shift because he, for all intents and purposes, had become caretaker to the Zygarde.

Squishy and Z2 certainly had the power to remove all the vines that had taken over the city in a moment. They could have removed all of them days ago. But, alas, it wasn't that simple. Each vine provided a unique case. In the first days of cleanup they'd been able to go through the city and remove the vines that were in the road or only on top of things. But the ones that had crashed through buildings needed to stay in place, lest their removal cause further collapse. So they'd found that combing through the city at the end of the day—when both Zygarde had been able to soak up the day's sun—and seeing which vines could be removed after the day's progress was the only way to go. It was slow, but, little by little, the job was getting done.

"Hi there, Meyer!" James called out, waving to him alongside Jessie's Wobbuffet. "How are you?"

"Better than yesterday!" he replied, as he had every day since they'd begun.

It seemed as though the potential end of the world had awoken many things in people, especially within the niche group of people who had participated in stopping the Giant Rock. Team Rocket were perhaps the most obvious case, next to Malva. Team Rocket had continued to take their film work seriously and were in the process of collecting footage for a documentary about everything that had happened. Team Rocket had split in half, though, so they could get double the time in Lumiose, according to Clemont and Diantha's rules.

As for Meyer, aside from the general goal of trying to be a better father, he was just trying to take things one day at a time. If he could be a little better today than he'd been yesterday, that was a win.

"Hey, Squishy, Z2," James said fondly as the three of them approached. The Zygarde were in their 'Core' formes, as everyone had gained the terminology for. They'd go to 50% once they made it to the vines, to conserve energy. "Let's get started, shall we?"

As the five of them made their way down most of Vernal Avenue, Meyer found himself noticing where the cleanup had taken place that day. He had the intimacy with the space, even in its ruined state, to see all the progress that had happened, past all that was still to come.

"Excellent," Meyer said, proud of the work that everyone had done that day. "Squishy, Z2, you know what to do!"

Simultaneously, both Zygarde Cores called upon the cells that Meyer now knew to be scattered all over the region, and the Pokémon evolved before his eyes. It was never anything less than miraculous to see, and he was glad it was being captured on video. He felt privileged that he'd been the one trusted to chaperone the Pokémon, since there was no way he was going to let Bonnie spend time on the pile, no matter how safe Clemont and Diantha tried to make it. She did watch the Pokémon with Ash and Clemont during the day, though, while Meyer hunted for a new job.

The Zygarde began to divide and conquer, the reason why both were only in 50% forme and not united in Complete.

"Any buildings in particular we're looking to clean up?"

James began to point out with more detail what had been done that day according to Jessie and Meowth, and what the volunteers were looking to do the next. As he did, Meyer wished that he could get in there with his hands and help. But, technically, he was still concussed, and meant to limit his physical exertion.

They worked like that for about an hour. The sun was moving lower in the sky, hitting harder now that there weren't so many tall buildings blocking it. Meyer was sweating in spite of his lack of physical labor, and he turned to James, who was pulling from his water. "Hey, I think we've got it from here. Got a good sense of what needs to be done. If you've got all your footage, you can head back now."

James brought down the camera—he did video while Wobbuffet—wearing no mask, but clad in a full hazmat suit—controlled audio. "Really? You sure?"

"Yeah," Meyer answered with a smile. "You need to be getting ready anyway. Big night."

"It's a big night for you too," James replied in that strange, vaguely Galarian accent of his.

"Ah, yeah, but my look is that of the sweaty lumberjack man. You're going to have to dress up nice."

"I guess you're right," James said, turning off the camera and beginning to break it down. "Jessie will have my head if we're not a matched set."

"And here I thought it was the other way around."

James grinned. "Depends on the day."

"Alright now, you. Shoo," Meyer said with a good-natured laugh. "Thank you and Wobbuffet for all you're doing."

"You too," James replied as he and Wobbuffet began to walk back down the path. "See you soon."

* * *

"I don't want to go in."

"Well, that's something you should have thought about before you accepted, Alain."

"I wasn't thinking anything when I accepted! What was I supposed to say?"

"Uh, no? If you wanted to say no, you should have said no."

"I don't know if I wanted to say no."

"Do you want to now?"

"I…I don't think so."

"Then let's go in."

"…Fine."

Alain pushed the door leading into Malva's chambers at the Elite Four in the Kalos Pokémon League. It was shockingly heavy and he had to use quite a bit of his weight to get it open, revealing a cavernous room with multicolored tiles on the floor. He knew that when he stepped on the center panel on the floor, flames would erupt all over the room. Of course, if a challenger managed not to step on that part, Malva had a button by her throne—for it could only be called a throne—she could press to ensure the effect wasn't missed.

"Yeah, I don't think this is for me," Alain stated as he continued to try and take everything in.

"Well, of course it isn't for you—it _isn't_ you," Mairin reasoned. "Remember this is just temporary. You're taking her place and then, who knows. Maybe this could be yours one day."

Alain wasn't sure what he thought of that. It had been a while since he'd really thought of what he wanted for himself and his career. Did he really want to be an Elite in the long term? Did he want to be Champion? He just didn't know anymore. It was like he didn't know himself well enough anymore in order to know.

The Elites, aside from Malva, of course, hadn't even been in Lumiose for the crisis. In a moment where it felt like the entire world was either in Lumiose or watching it, somehow Siebold, Wikstrom, and Drasna had missed it. Alain had always assumed that the Elite Four would have some box in the stadium where they'd watch the whole Kalos League, but it turned out they'd seen it as a day off. None had been in Lumiose, none around TVs, none with their phones on. Anyone who hadn't had one of those three things didn't hear about the Lumiose disaster until afterwards. That was crazy to Alain.

Really, aside from battling the occasional challenger, Alain had no idea what Elites were supposed to do. Malva had been able to have a whole side career on PokéVision—and a third one as a member of Team Flare—while Siebold was a chef, and really, Alain didn't know much about Drasna or Wikstrom at all. Should he if he was going to take this job? Were they his coworkers or did they just hold the same position?

While Alain stood flummoxed by the makings of an existential crisis, Mairin had trotted up the stairs and taken a seat on the throne. "Alain, this is incredible! You gotta sit here—it feels like you rule the world."

"That feeling didn't work out so well for Malva," Alain said wryly as he slowly walked up the stairs.

"Well, good thing you're not Malva," Mairin said, standing up so Alain could switch places with her. She pushed him into the chair and stood to the side, putting a hand on his shoulder. It was funny how they were so much more similar in height now with him sitting than standing. "Now just imagine yourself sitting here, about to give some kid the battle of their lives."

He could see it. He could see some version of Ash Ketchum approaching him and challenging him to a Battle at least as good as the one they'd had in the Lumiose Conference. It could be fun. That part, at least.

"You're really lucky, Alain. You'll get to try this out without commitment. Then you can see how you feel about it."

"You're right about that," Alain agreed. Maybe it would be a good opportunity to figure things out. He looked up at Mairin, who was smiling at him, just like he'd been missing for so long.

Maybe he already had something figured out.

"If we wanna visit Chespie before we have to leave, we should do it now."

As Steven had predicted, Chespie's body had been in rough shape after it had woken up. But, to everyone's immense joy, it had woken up. Once the Mega-Evolution energy had been drained from its body, all it had needed was a general healing and an intense physical therapy program. But that Mairin could deal with. That Alain could deal with. It was good enough news that he could start living with himself again.

Alain stood up from the chair and reflexively reached for Mairin's hand. She took it easily and the two of them made their way out. They'd be back soon enough, readier than ever.

* * *

Temporary housing had been set up in the cities surrounding Lumiose, those being Dendemille, Santalune, Camphrier, Courmaline, and Laverre. Trailers were being set up in any available real estate where displaced Lumiose residents could live, as well as volunteers who were cleaning up. Misty, Bonnie, Serena, and Mairin were staying in one in Santalune, while Alain, Clemont and Ash resided next door. During the day, the girls' trailer was empty, while Ash, Clemont, and Bonnie stayed in the boys'. All day. So, Ash was not surprised when he saw Misty waltz in and make herself at home.

"Hi, guys," Misty said as she dropped her bag by the door and shrugged out of her protective jacket. She'd been through one of the air sanitizers that Clemont had invented after her shift in Lumiose so, save for a little sweat, the jacket was just about clean.

"Hey, Misty!"

Ash, Bonnie, and Pikachu—all equally stir crazy—got up rather eagerly and ran over to her. Clemont was the only who didn't, not even seeming to notice as he continued to fiddle with an invention that none of the others understood much about.

Ash and Misty met by the door in a tight hug and Ash couldn't help but grin into Misty's neck. For someone who hadn't thought about it much in the past, it was nice to be able to be like this with her. To touch her and have it be normal.

It only lasted a moment, though. Then he pulled back and the questions started flying.

"What did you guys do today? How are things looking? Is everyone doing well?"

"Ash is going crazy," Bonnie said as Pikachu leapt into Misty's arms, wanting his turn with her too.

"What? I'm not going crazy," Ash said, trying to portray with his eyes that Bonnie was really the one who was crazy.

"No, of course he's not, Bonnie," Misty said, pulling her hair out of a ponytail as she bent down to Bonnie's level. In a stage whisper she said, "He's _always_ been crazy."

"Hey!"

"Hay is for Ponyta," Misty said flippantly. "Besides. I never said whether I _liked_ crazy or not."

Misty put a hand on the back of Ash's head, fingers threading through his hair, as he was hatless for once. Ash leaned into the caress and they smiled at each other.

Then Bonnie wiggled between the two of them and said with a waggle of her eyebrows, "You know, you're quite the catch."

"Hey, you're not giving her to Clemont!"

"I didn't mean for him," Bonnie said innocently to Ash. "I meant for you."

"Oh," Ash said with a blush. "Yeah."

"Pika pi," Pikachu cooed, seeming to revel in Ash's embarrassment.

"Okay, guys, I have to take a shower before the ceremony," she said, handing Pikachu off to Bonnie. "Bonnie, watch him until I'm finished."

"Pikachu doesn't need to be watched," Ash protested.

Misty smiled over her shoulder before heading into the bathroom. "I meant for you too."

"I already do that all day," Bonnie said with a groan to the closed door, flopping on the floor next to Dedenne, who had watched the whole scene take place.

Ash sighed, doing much the same as Bonnie, also falling to the floor, albeit carefully, so he didn't hurt his ribs. Pikachu crawled in his lap and Ash absently stroked his back. Pikachu had probably been pet more in the past week than in the past year—his coat had never been shinier. Dedenne too.

Ash's ribs had left him out of commission for helping with the reconstruction in Lumiose. He was the _only one_ without anything to do. Well, him and Bonnie. He could offer up his Pokémon to volunteer, but none of them had masks that would fit yet either. Maybe Pikachu, but Pikachu wasn't about to leave without Ash. Thank goodness, because Ash didn't know what he would do without his little buddy there.

He and Bonnie were making the best use of their time that they could. They would train Ash's Pokémon for a couple hours every day, but they couldn't do too much, since Pokémon Centers were already at capacity with really injured Pokémon. It would be irresponsible to steer away resources just because you trained a little too hard with your healthy Pokémon. And they did have Z2 and Squishy. Unfortunately, the legendaries spent most of their time relaxing in the sun, preparing for their time with Meyer later. Aside from that, they'd had to entertain themselves inside.

Truthfully, Clemont wasn't very good company. He was totally consumed by his inventions. Clemont had invented a lot of things when they'd been traveling the region, and Ash didn't remember when Clemont had spent the time doing so. Though all of those inventions had exploded, so perhaps it was good that he was spending a little more time on these ones.

"You really are going crazy, you know," Bonnie said.

Ash was currently shaking both of his feet. If he'd been sitting on a chair, both legs would have been bouncing up and down uncontrollably. "I know."

After a couple minutes—that felt like hours—Misty came out of the shower, clad in Ash's robe. Her hair was wet and dark, and it looked like she'd just stepped out of the pool or the ocean.

"Bonnie, let's go over to our trailer. You can help me decide how to look for tonight."

"Oh boy!" Bonnie said, darting up, grabbing Dedenne, and running out before Misty had so much as stepped out of the bathroom.

Misty giggled, shaking her head at the young girl before turning back to Ash.

"Ash, I'm not expecting you to help with any styling choices, but your job is to pull Clemont away from his inventions long enough to get dressed and ready to go."

Ash looked at Misty pleadingly. "But—"

"You can do it," she said as she was stepping out the door. "And don't forget to get dressed yourself!"

Ash stared at the door, even after Misty closed it behind her. A week ago, he might have wondered how he could like someone so much who was mean to him. But, really, he knew that she'd never been mean. Well, maybe early on. But this was just how Misty talked. To everyone, but especially to him. And really, he did it to her too. And he liked that. He liked them.

He stood up. "C'mon, Clemont. You heard Misty. Let's get ready to go."

At the sound of his name, Clemont shook his head and looked up at Ash, blinking a number of times. "What? Huh?"

"Okay, so you _didn't_ hear Misty," Ash said, finding Clemont's water bottle and giving it to him. "Here, I haven't seen you drink in hours."

"Oh," Clemont said, taking the water bottle and drinking thirstily. "I guess you're right."

"So, let's get you dressed before we go, okay?"

Clemont nodded as he set the bottle down. "Sure. Just a couple more minutes."

Now, maybe Ash would have fallen for this if he hadn't been living with Clemont for the past week. And if he hadn't traveled with him for the year before. Because unlike Clemont of the year before, Clemont of this week seemed to say that a lot. Just a couple minutes before dinner, just a couple minutes before turning out the light, just a couple minutes before taking his Pokémon outside. And by now Ash had been fooled enough times that he wasn't about to get tricked so easily.

"C'mon, Clemont. It'll only take a couple minutes to get ready and then you can have a little more time with your stuff before Misty drags us out of here."

"I know, but—"

"No, buts! Clemont," Ash knelt down beside his friend, trying to force some eye contact, "I understand that you want to help. As someone who can't, believe me, I know the feeling. But everyone else is taking a short break tonight. Why can't you?"

Clemont sighed, peeling his gaze away from his work long enough to take off his glasses and wipe them with his sleeve. "I just…I just want to make up for what happened."

"Yeah, that's what we all want to do," Ash said. "We all want to make things better."

"No," Clemont shook his head, "I don't mean what Team Flare did. I mean what I did."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"I mean to Aliana and Bryony. And Xerosic, Ines, and Nathan," he explained. "I know that Aliana and Bryony are in jail now, paying for their crimes like they should. But, you know, that should be their punishment. Not what I did to them. And I know Ines and Nathan are fine now, but—"

"Clemont, hey." Ash gently put his hands on Clemont's, gesturing for him to put his glasses back on so they could really see each other. "We all had to make tough calls. I mean, I was fighting on Lysandre's side, right? That definitely caused a lot of problems for Misty and Al—"

"Yeah, but that wasn't _you_."

"I know, but I'm just saying. I mean, people have said to me that it's in bad times and emergencies that people show who they really are. And, I dunno, maybe that's right for some people. But I don't really think it's true. I guess it might be part of who you are, but it's not all of you. So…okay, so part of you is that guy who had to make some tough decisions—which, by the way, I think were the right ones—but a bigger part of you is the guy here, inventing things so that everyone else can help at all. And part of you is the guy who's going to get dressed right now so that Misty doesn't kill me."

Clemont sighed, stiffly beginning to push himself up. Ordinarily, Ash would have leapt to his feet and pulled his friend up the rest of the way, but he still had to mind his ribs. So, for once, Clemont made it up first, and offered his hand, giving Ash the slightest grin.

"Well, I guess we can't have that."

* * *

"Is it true that you foresaw the Kalos disaster months before it took place?"

As a crowd was dispersing in the stands at the Kalos Pokémon League, Team Rocket was on the ground, interviewing Olympia. She was looking at the three of them warily. Jessie was used to this, of course, but it always made her feel prickly when she wasn't doing anything wrong. And, as of today, she hadn't done anything wrong in a whole week. Well, legally wrong, at least. So the look was completely unnecessary.

"Aren't you all Team Rocket?"

She was just about to say something to the effect of: _aren't you a psychic? Shouldn't you know we're on the good side now?_ James cut her off before she could, though.

"We're actually filming a documentary about the Kalos disaster and its recovery process," he explained. "Since we have so much footage about it, it only made sense to put it to good use."

"Ah, I see," Olympia said. "Well, I'd love to answer your question, but I see Charlene over there and I want to talk to her about things at the Gym. There's so much to do now that we're using it as a shelter."

"Yes, of course," James said. "Please, tend to that."

"Thank you," Olympia said.

After Olympia had disappeared back into the crowd, Jessie thwacked James on the arm.

"What?" he cried, looking wounded. Unfortunately, while holding the camera, he couldn't rub his injury.

"You let her go too easily! Not everyone's gonna want to talk—it's our job to _make_ them talk!"

"Force da powerful Psychic Gym Leada who was just in da hospital?" Meowth asked sarcastically. "Yeah, nothin' wrong wit dat idea."

"Oh please, she looks perfectly healthy. It's not like we're attacking an infirm."

"So dat just leaves da powerful Psychic Gym Leada issue."

"C'mon, there are a million people here," Jessie said, moving them forward. "Just try not to let the next mark slip through our fingers."

It was true: everyone they might be interested in speaking to was there at Kalos's official Pokémon League Stadium. With Squishy and Z2 alongside Bonnie and Meyer, the only one missing was Xerosic. The ceremony honoring all of them had just finished. Team Rocket had shot the whole thing, of course, along with some live news crews, but they were the only ones of the lot wearing the medals that all the 'heroes' were now donning.

It all made Jessie quite uncomfortable. In all the times they'd defected to the hero side in the past, this was the part where they would have left, hiding in the shadows, or watching from a rooftop somewhere. But instead, they were here. Still cleverly off to the side—they hadn't been seated in the line where everyone else had been—but indelibly a part of this.

The ceremony had been sweet. Everyone had been honored individually, there'd been speeches, and a moment of silence for the lives that'd been lost—all in a neat, one hour package for television. Now that the ceremony was over, it was the perfect chance to grab interviews from some of their fellow 'heroes' who had been evading the camera since the Lumiose disaster.

"Oh, dere's Serena!" Meowth exclaimed. "Ev'rybody loves Kalos's sweetheart."

That was true. Serena had been a rising star before the Kalos disaster from being the runner up in the Gloire Showcase Master Class. But the impassioned speech she'd given in the helicopter during the disaster had given her near-universal name recognition in the Kalos region. Everyone knew her and loved her and Team Rocket definitely wanted to make use of that in their documentary.

"Oh, Serena!" Jessie called, waving to the girl as they crossed paths.

Serena, however, had been walking as quickly as her ankle allowed, and passed right by them. "Sorry, Team Rocket! I want to catch Misty before she leaves!"

Jessie's arm fell to her side and she pouted. "Oh, the nerve!"

"It's fine," James coaxed, pointing the camera in another direction. "There's Professor Sycamore."

Another person with one hundred percent name recognition in the region. He'd certainly add credibility to their movie.

"Augustine," Jessie said, stepping in front of him so he couldn't slip away the way Serena had. "Do you have a moment?"

Professor Sycamore stopped, eyebrows raised in surprise. Jessie couldn't tell if it was from them cutting him off, or the fact that she'd used his rarely-heard first name. He probably hadn't realized that she knew it.

"Oh, uh, sure. What do you need?"

"Why don't you tell us how your role as the region's foremost professor has changed since the events in Lumiose?"

"Of course," Professor Sycamore started. "Well, my role has changed enormously, because my field of profession was Mega-Evolution. Since the discovery that Mega-Evolution hurts the Pokémon that undergoes it, I've spearheaded a campaign to end the use of Mega-Evolution in League-sanctioned Battles, and hope to outlaw it entirely. And I'm writing a research paper on Mega-Evolution to back all that up."

"And you're also creating things like masks to make it safer for humans and Pokémon to work to rebuild Lumiose, right? Who are you collaborating with?"

"Yes, a lot of us are working together. Valerie and I have teamed up to make different sized masks for every species of Pokémon. She's a fashion designer, so she's amazing at taking the measurements and translating that into design while I have the resources and tools to get the masks made. Clemont and I are also working on inventions to keep everyone safe and healthy. Alain has returned to being my assistant part-time while he takes on his new League duties, and Ines and Nathan are learning the ropes from him."

"Well, that all sounds like amazing work."

"Thank you," Professor Sycamore said. He then began looking side to side, awkwardly, shifting on his feet. "Is that all you need?"

"No," Jessie said, putting her hand out in case he tried to run from them. "Now you can just kind of sound off on anything about what you're doing or the Lumiose disaster and we'll cut your words together as we please?"

"…Is that really how documentaries are made?"

"We have no idea," Jessie said with a big smile on her face. "Carry on."

She tuned him out, giving him little more in the way of prompts than the occasional, "Hmm," or "Go on," as she spotted an orange head in the crowd. Of course, that particular hair color immediately made Jessie think of the original twerpette, who—as she, James, and Meowth had been the first to predict a long time ago—now appeared to be an item along with the twerp himself. But that wasn't who she was looking at. For starters, this kid was a lot shorter. And secondly, she actually had something to say to this one.

Jessie drifted away from her crew almost without thinking. She saw their gazes drift to her, even Professor Sycamore's, but all James and Meowth had to do at this time was keep their equipment pointed towards the rambling but admittedly somewhat attractive Professor. They didn't need her.

Within only a few paces, Jessie was, for the first time in a week, in company with the side-twerps.

She didn't know what to say. She had nothing _to_ say. All she had to do was rifle through her tote—packed with lipsticks, powders, and some of the goodies she'd managed to steal from the various snack tables she'd encountered that day, and plucked out a camera.

"Here."

The four side-twerps had been clustered in a square, somehow not noticing her, even as she towered over them—especially the tiny red-headed side-twerp—but opened up, as she extended her hand into their group.

"Oh, my camera," the side-twerp said, reaching out and taking it from her. "Thank y—"

But she was already gone, twisting through the crowd, back to her place. But now, with a little ghost of a smile pulling at her lips.

* * *

A week in Kalos had always seemed like the perfect vacation to Misty. Perfect location, obviously, and perfect amount of time spent. As a traveling Trainer, it had been rare to stay in one city for that long. As a Gym Leader, it was impossible to get away for more than a weekend most times. A week away would have been decadent.

But for all the ways she'd envisioned it, it had never gone anything like this. That was, standing posed for photographs at the end of a ceremony where they'd all been given official medals of valor after having spent the majority of that week clearing rubble and trying to rebuild a destroyed city. That was a little over the top, even for Misty's imagination.

But that's where she was. As the last official photograph was taken, Ash took her hand and smiled at her. His eyes were still slightly wide and crazed—sitting for the ceremony probably hadn't helped with his unspent energy—but they were focused on her in a way that made her heart go pitter-pat. She still wasn't used to this. She hoped she wouldn't be for a long time.

"That's that," Ash said.

It wasn't perfectly clear if he meant the ceremony or the pictures or the whole ordeal of what they'd been going through for the past week, but Misty understood the sentiment regardless. "That's that," she agreed.

Their perfect line of heroes started splitting off as people began chatting with each other. After all, they hadn't all been together since Anistar City. It only took a couple of seconds for Steven Stone to approach and say, "I hope I'm not interrupting."

Misty wasn't quite out of the habit of flushing when people said that to her. It had become such a knee-jerk reaction to blush and bluster when people made comments about her and Ash that she hadn't managed to shake it yet.

"No. What's up, Steven?" Ash said.

"Well, I heard that you two are leaving Kalos today. I am too, so I wanted to make sure that we got our goodbyes in first thing."

"That's so kind of you, Steven, thank you," Misty said. "Yes, we head back to Kanto tonight."

"I'm sure that everyone's grateful that the two of you were here for this," Steven said.

"You too!" Ash replied. "You came all this way just to help. Not just anyone would do that."

He didn't seem to quite realize what he'd said until the words came out, leading him to glance back over at Misty and give her a special smile.

"If you ever find yourselves back in Hoenn, let me know. It would be good to see you both again."

"Likewise," Misty replied. "If you're ever in Kanto."

Steven grinned. "Well, I hear you have a lot of caves there, so I might just take you up on that. Anyway, I best be saying my goodbyes to the rest of the group. But I hope to see you again soon."

"Sure thing," Misty said. "Bye, now."

"Bye, Steven!"

Misty glanced at Ash, who was using his other hand to wave Steven off, as was Pikachu from his rightful place on Ash's shoulder. Thoughts of another vacation crossed her mind. To Hoenn, by the water, the both of them. Steven spoke as though it was a given that if they went, it would be together. And maybe it would. Maybe most of the things they would do now would be together. Well, if not physically, then at least metaphorically, she supposed.

"We've gotta go say goodbye to everyone else," Ash said, looking out at their crowd of cohorts. "It's not like everyone's gonna come to the airport with us."

Us. They were an _us_ now. But still, Ash knew all these people much better than Misty did, and deserved his own proper goodbye with each and every one of them. So she pulled her hand away. "Let's make the rounds and I'll find you when I'm done."

Ash nodded in agreement, running off to where Mairin and Alain were. And before Misty could decide where to start with her own goodbyes, it was decided for her.

"Hey, Serena," Misty said, surprised. "We were just going to say goodbye to some people before we head out, so if there's anyone you want to catch up with—"

"No, I actually wanted to talk to you," Serena said, perhaps a bit shyly. "I know Clemont, Bonnie, and I will be seeing you both off later, but I thought we could have some girl talk first."

"Sure," Misty said. "I'd love some girl talk before being stuck with Mr. Pokémon Master for a two-hour flight."

Serena gave a nervous chuckle. "Right. Well, I just wanted to thank you for your honesty, um, back when we were on the Rock. It was meaningful that you trusted me with your secret."

"I guess I'm glad too," Misty said. "Not just because it helped Professor Sycamore figure out how to save the world, but because it led to…this."

Misty quantified 'this' by glancing to where Ash was gesticulating wildly to a stoic Alain and cheerful Mairin and pointing between him and herself.

"Yes. I also wanted to congratulate you on that."

"Oh, well, thanks," Misty said awkwardly, still not sure how to behave around people's reactions to her fledgling relationship. She'd have to get used to it, though, if she wanted to survive a moment around her sisters the next day.

"But I also…I also wanted to show you the same honesty that you showed me," Serena said, taking a deep breath as she kept firm eye contact with Misty. "This whole time I've traveled with Ash, and even before, I've…had feelings for him."

 _That_ Misty hadn't been expecting.

Back when May had first been traveling with Ash, Misty had had moments of jealousy. Moments of worry that she and Ash would have a connection more than Misty had ever been able to muster between the two of them. But after getting to know the other girl, her worries had dissipated all but immediately. She'd felt the same concerns around Dawn until Brock and May had reassured her that Dawn definitely wasn't interested. By the time Ash had begun traveling with Iris, Misty had gotten over those kinds of fears. Whatever would be would be, and it didn't ever seem that it would be that Ash would get together with one of his traveling companions.

So to hear that her old, pubescent nightmare had actually come to pass was…well, not scary like it might have been five years ago. But certainly shocking.

"Oh," Misty said, trying to keep her expression blank as Serena moved to continue.

"I never acted on it—well, not really. I guess I never had the courage. Which I imagine you can relate to. And how hard that's been. But I guess, I guess I wanted to tell you because you deserve to know. To know that and that I'd never do anything. I really am happy for you, because…I know how happy I would be if it were me. But really, I'm happy for Ash. Happy that he's happy. And because of that, I wish you the best."

"Oh—thank you, Serena," Misty said, unsure of what else to say. The other girl's face was red, whether from embarrassment or the effort of saying such a difficult thing, Misty didn't know.

"I just, if it helps, I think that my crush on him was always more of a fantasy. I'd idealized him from when we were younger and even though he really is similar to what I'd imagined him as, it's still not the same. That's not the basis of a relationship. Not like what you have. I-I know that. Now."

"Um, I'm not sure that helps either, but it's good that you know that," Misty offered, struggling to keep a question mark off the end.

Really, what was she supposed to say to all this? Of course she wasn't going to like the idea of another girl liking her boyfriend. Especially one of _his_ best friends. Who had just traveled with him for a year along with her apparent years-old crush? But she was saying all this in good faith, so…what could Misty say?

Serena continued. "I just ask—not that I'm really in a position to ask anything but, if I may—please don't tell him. I'll tell him someday. Someday when all of this is just a story and I've moved on and he's saved the world a dozen more times." In spite of herself, Misty smiled at that. It seemed everyone's experiences with Ash had some common threads. "I know I didn't keep your secret perfectly when you told me and even though I'd do it over again, I know that wasn't really right. And I'm sorry."

Misty took a breath and tried to take it all in. She'd been known for her temper in her youth and had spent the last few years learning how to deal with it. As a Gym Leader, she needed to be level-headed. She needed the calming spirit of a good teacher. So she paused for just a few seconds before responding and then put her hand on Serena's shoulder, a gesture that seemed to surprise the other girl.

"There's nothing to be sorry about. I—thank you for telling me. I'd never be able to handle something like this with such grace so…congratulations. For being more of an adult than I am."

Serena blushed and looked down. "I'm glad you think so."

"I do," Misty said, bending her neck to regain eye contact with the girl. "And while I can't say I'm happy to hear that a beautiful, smart, talented girl likes my boyfriend, it's not my place to keep you from telling him things that are yours to tell. So, yeah, please wait until things are less new with us and I can feel more sure that he feels like I do, but you deserve to be able to share your truth whenever you want to."

Serena looked at Misty in surprise. "Really?"

Misty squeezed Serena's shoulder before letting go. "Really. Ash's friends are the best people in the world, and that includes you. Just because we like the same guy doesn't mean that we have to be rivals. We can just be friends. It might be awkward at first, but that's no reason not to try."

"Well, I can't wait to meet the rest of Ash's friends, if they're all like you," Serena said with a grin.

"They may not be like me, but I can promise you that they're all just about as amazing as he is." Her eyes softened. "And you know how fond I am of him."

Serena nodded. "I do. And…you can be sure that he feels the same. I—it's obvious."

"Um, thanks." Misty looked down to hide her blush, unsure how to end the moment. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ash making his way through the rest of his goodbyes, and then her gaze fell to a group in the corner. "Alright. Lemme see if I can manage a goodbye to Team Rocket."

* * *

It turned out much of the flight was Ash recounting many of his non-televised adventures in Kalos, whilst trying to stave off how much he already missed Clemont, Bonnie, and Serena. In between stories, Misty caught glimpses of the sadness he was trying to mask, and she wondered if that's how he'd been when she'd left the group. Just like she couldn't say anything to comfort him now, had he been inconsolable then?

When they got off the plane, people recognized them. Sure, Ash had had people here and there recognize him in the past, and Misty more and more frequently had people knowing her as a Gym Leader, but this was different. Everyone seemed to know who they were and what they'd done. Of course, that had been the case in Kalos too, but more expectedly so. It would take some getting used to here at home. Hopefully it would die down before then, though.

Pallet was a short drive from the Viridian airport. Misty wasn't sure if Ash had ever bothered to take a car back before; she assumed he'd always walked. They didn't consider that this time, though, for a multitude of reasons, not the least of which being his ribs—the whole reason he was coming back now instead of staying to help in Kalos.

Although, Misty thought as she felt Ash's fingers interlaced with hers in the back of the cab, perhaps not the _only_ reason.

They would stay in Pallet for the evening. They'd get to see Mrs. Ketchum, as well as Professor Oak, Tracey, and maybe Gary, and try to get back on Kanto time. Then they'd both head to Cerulean so that Misty could get back to being the Gym Leader. The plan was to ride out Ash's recovery where there would be enough stimulation—see: Pokémon-related activities—to keep him occupied. That would mean more than a month, if all went well, of essentially living together. After only a week of dating.

But, truth be told, Misty wasn't concerned about it. After all, she and Ash had traveled together for years. Sure, the dynamic was different now, and they'd be staying in her house instead of sleeping bags outside, but they wouldn't be sleeping in the same bed. Not yet.

That was the next five weeks or so. After that, Ash wasn't quite sure. He might want to go back to Kalos and help with the rebuilding. Or he might want to go on another journey. There was a region no further than the Orange Islands called Alola. Certainly a place Misty could disappear to for a weekend.

Or he might try Kanto out again. He'd gotten so close to winning in this last Pokémon League. Maybe it was time to go back to his roots and see what the Indigo League would have in store for him a second time. And then they could finally have a real Gym Battle. Now that Team Rocket was on the good side, there wasn't anything that should interrupt their match this time around.

As Pallet appeared in the distance, and Misty could see the windmill of Professor Oak's lab, one thing was certain. Ash had always made all of his decisions with nothing more than him and his Pokémon in mind. And saving the world, here and there. But whatever he decided to do this time, Misty would have a part in it. She wouldn't be the whole decision, this Misty knew. She didn't want to suddenly become Ash's whole world to the point where he lost himself and his goals. But to be a factor in the decision? She hadn't even had that when she'd been traveling with him.

It felt good. His hand in hers, coming up to his mother's house, where Misty would be introduced anew as his girlfriend, all the choices they would get to make together—it was all good.

And the funny thing was, it all came down to a choice of hers. With the threat of the world ending, she'd run to Ash. At the time, it had felt like impulse more than choice. But everything she'd done, ultimately, had been a choice. And with the threat of no tomorrow, she'd chosen him.

But after all that, with the renewed promise of a million more tomorrows, he'd chosen her.

Now they were faced with another choice: what's next?

Well, for now it would be dinner with Mrs. Ketchum. Then it would be off to Cerulean tomorrow. But after that? They'd just have to wait and see.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, folx, this is the end. I have a days' long AN on ffnet, but I'll save you from the grief here. I'll keep it simple and say many, many thanks all at once for CsMelody, who has betaed every chapter of this twice (at least). There would be little to no shipping in this story if it weren't for her, so send her your thanks! Other than that, I'm just so happy I finished this story and thank you to everyone who read it! You rock!


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